I LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. I 

J UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.* 



HOUSEHOLD 
CONSECRATION. 



NATHANIEL E. JOHNSON, 

PASTOR OF THE THIRD FREE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, NEW-YORK. 





/ 

NEW-YORK: 

EZRA COLLIER, 148 NASSAU-STREET. 

West & Trow, Printers. 

1836. 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, by Ezra Collies, in 
the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-six, in the 
Clerk's office of the Southern District of New- York, 



LC Control Number 




tmp96 031453 



CONTENTS. 



Preface 9 

CHAPTER L 

Fundamental principles. The constitution of the moral universe. 
The constitution of the family state B 

CHAPTER II. 

Fundamental principles. The consequences of the apostasy.— 
The gracious design to bless parental faithfulness .• . . . 13 

CHAPTER III. 

The Abrahamic covenant. Its terms, promises, and seal. Its 
perpetuity 27 

CHAPTER IV. 

The right of Christians to the Abrahamic covenant. The cove- 
nant not abolished ; confirmed ; transferred; at the expense 
of the Jews 38 

CHAPTER V. 

The change of the seal. Circumcision abolished. Baptism sub- 
stituted 47 

CHAPTER VI. 



Argument from ecclesiastical history. Household consecration, 
in some form, the uninterrupted practice of the Church, during 
four thousand years. Not neglected by any considerable por- 
tion until within three hundred. Consecration by baptism not 
denied by any sect during the first thousand years of Christian- 
ity. Not commenced at any period since the apostolic age. 
Universally practised in the fourth century. Its previous his- 
tory. Establishing its apostolic origin 61 



6 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER VIL 

Household consecration in the apostolic age. Its prominence.— 
Under the ministry of John, of Jesus Christ, of the apostles. 



The Church obligated to regard it in the same manner 76 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Utility of household consecration. The state of mind essential to 
its acceptable performance. The distinct and solemn pledge. 
Its actual bearing on parental duties* 91 

CHAPTER IX. 

Utility of household consecration, continued. Its influence on 
consecrated children. Examples. Its connection with prevail- 
ing prayer. Examples. The early conversion of children 100 

CHAPTER X. 



Utility of household consecration, continued. Relation of bap- 
tized children to the Church. Influence on the prosperity of the 
Church. The theory, viewed in connection with the practical 



operation 106 

CHAPTER XI. 

Household consecration in its administration. The Wyandot chief. 
The baptism 114 

CHAPTER XII. 



Practical reflections. Application of these principles to parents.... 118 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Practical reflections. Application of these principles to fathers 127 

CHAPTER XIV. 
Practical reflections, continued. Application of these principles 



to mothers 136 

CHAPTER XV. 

Practical reflections. Application of these principles to consecra- 
ted children 143 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Duties of the Church on the subject of household ,consecration. 
Special consecration of children, in reference to the gospel 
ministry. Conclusion 150 



CONTENTS. 7 

Address to parents, delivered in the Central Presbyterian Church, 
Broome-street, New- York, before the New- York Maternal 

Association, at their Annual Meeting, March, A. D. 1836 157 

The prayer of Habakkuk, or consolations of the covenant 186 

The altar of consecration 190 

The consecration 191 

To a consecrated youth 192 



PREFACE. 



The time has arrived when the subject of Household 
Consecration is to be more thoroughly studied, under- 
stood, and practised, than at any former period. An in- 
stitution founded upon imperishable reasons, and animated 
by principles which control the destinies of our race, 
must, in the progress of mankind towards the ages of uni- 
versal Christianity, be more fully displayed and divinely 
honored. The rise of Sabbath schools, Bible classes, and 
infant schools ; the publication of books on the domestic 
relations ; the formation of maternal associations ; the his- 
tory of revivals, as written in the biography of departed 
worthies, and in our own delightful experience ; have con- 
spired to arouse the Church of God to a deeper and live- 
lier faith in the covenant of consecration. 

The author has, for years, watched with intense inte- 
rest the operations of divine Providence and grace, in re- 
ference to this ordinance of the Church, and has become 
animated with the firm and joyful belief, that its power 
and virtue have not at all been developed in the fulness of 
their splendor. As this interest has led him occasionally 
to speak of it to others, he has been delighted to find, as 
if by one common influence, the minds of many devoted 



10 



PREFACE. 



ministers and Christians watching it with the same eager- 
ness, and rejoicing in the same convictions. Under these 
impressions, he feels constrained to exert such influence 
as he may possess, to turn the attention of greater numbers 
to this subject. 

He has, therefore, resolved to employ the press, as 
hitherto he has often employed the pulpit, to communicate 
to his fellow Christians his views and feelings respecting 
the consecration of households to God. In several succes- 
sive chapters the divine origin of the practice of infant 
dedication ; the fundamental and perpetual reasons of its 
institution ; the designed application of its principles to all 
nations and ages ; the ancient and the modern form, by 
which the faith of the Church in these principles has been 
designated; the utility of this ordinance, and its relations 
to all the interests of future generations, will be presented 
for the consideration of all Christian professors, and espe- 
cially for those who already practise it. The fact, that 
this subject has awakened so much controversy, has made 
many lovers of peace among its friends averse to its fre- 
quent discussion. This aversion has operated to exclude 
it from the pulpit ; and this exclusion from the pulpit, to 
cause even those who practise it to slumber over its spirit- 
ual principles and ecclesiastical importance. In this slum- 
ber many households have fearfully suffered. The rich 
and healthy influences of this institution of ages have nei- 
ther been fully experienced, nor, when partially experi- 
enced, duly appreciated. Had this subject received atten- 
tion according to its merits, instead of being considered 
as scarcely contained in the Scriptures, it would have been 



PREFACE. 



11 



regarded as intermingled with the whole current of inspi- 
ration ; instead of being considered as an ordinance mere- 
ly harmless, it would have been recognised as an arrange* 
ment, around which the deepest plans of divine Providence 
have taken root, and on which the great multitude of pre- 
cious promises have bloomed and clustered. Indeed, there 
is good reason to believe, that had this ordinance been 
preserved in its original purity, the dark ages could never 
have intervened ; and had it not fallen into disuse, the 
reformation could scarcely have been impeded ; and had 
it, to the present time, preserved its spirituality, the world 
would have been filled, ere this, with the influence of a 
pure Christianity. 

The writer is aware that this will be considered, even 
by many of its friends, as extravagant language. By those 
who have regarded it as a superstitious and frivolous cere- 
mony, it will be considered as an outrage upon the princi- 
ples of all sober reasoning. He wishes them, however, so 
far to suspend their decision, as to consider calmly the 
views and reasons which, to his own mind, present these 
assertions as the language of truth and soberness. He 
does not expect to convince, or impress those who do not 
read, or, reading, do not reflect, or, reflecting, do not pray. 
To those, however, who are willing to study the great per- 
manent arrangements of divine Providence, to ponder the 
history of the Church, to contemplate the everlasting co- 
venant, and admit the full force of parental responsibility, 
he feels assured that a thorough examination of this sub- 
ject will result in a conscious justification of his strongest 
language. If this great theme shall thus obtain a stronger 



12 



PREFACE. 



hold upon the spirit of prayer now rising in the Church ; 
if this little book shall excite believing minds to think, 
and abler minds to preach and write, respecting that 
great theme, until it shall rise in its magnitude upon 
the vision of the Church ; then will the author rejoice in 
the thought that he has not written in vain. Encouraging 
this hope — a hope derived from having already presented 
these views in other methods, he commits this volume to 
the examination of the Christian public and to the blessing 
of the God of truth. 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



CHAPTER I. 

Fundamental principles. The constitution of the moral universe. The 
constitution of the family state. 

The consecration of households to God, has been prac- 
tised by the great body of the Church ever since the time 
of Abraham. That it originated in the wisdom of God, and 
is emphatically a divine plan, admits of direct and positive 
proof. This institution must have its fundamental rea- 
sons. Its antiquity evinces their power, and its divine ori- 
gin, their justice. We shall therefore proceed to inquire, 

What foundation there is in the constitution of things 
for the practice of household consecration. 

1. There is a natural foundation for it in the constitu- 
tion of the moral universe. 

In that constitution God has claimed the supreme right 
of property in matter, and has revealed himself the supreme 
and exclusive proprietor of mind. This right is original, 
independent, absolute, and universal. It is inalienable and 
indestructible. It is Jehovah's prerogative, peculiarly, ex- 
clusively, and forever. In the system of moral govern- 
ment which he has established, for eternity, he has involved 
this claim, and committed himself to maintain it among an- 
gels and men. It is wrought into every living glory of 
heaven, and acknowledged in every celestial song. It is 
poured in upon man through all the testimony of natural 
religion, and all the ordinances of revealed. It pervades 

2 



14 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



all his circumstances and relations. It is placed upon him 
on his first introduction to existence. Creative power hath 
started a new mind on its endless career, and ought not 
that mind to be speedily consecrated to God ? The divine 
right is in it. The divine claim is upon it. Man, there* 
fore, should hasten to acknowledge them ; and that ac- 
knowledgment by the proper persons, in the proper manner? 
is consecration. Thus, in the constitution of the moral uni- 
verse lies one fundamental reason. There is, moreover, 
another : That mind is ordained to exert an influence over 
mind universally and forever. 

The moral sentiments and feelings of immortal minds 
must have channels of mutual communication, and when 
communicated, must produce similar or diverse sentiments 
and feelings in associated minds. 

The peculiar desirableness of an intelligent and immor- 
tal universe must consist in the capacity for mutual and in- 
fluential communion. In consequence of this capacity, the 
universe of created and immortal mind will be able to 
study the perfections of God, and mutually to exercise 
their feelings of approbation and delight, as he shall con- 
descend to reveal more and more clearly, through eternity, 
his nature, his character, and his glory. In consequence of 
this capacity, they can understand, appreciate, love, and 
elevate each other. God may thus cast over the mighty uni- 
verse of mind flash after flash of his radiant glory, as his be- 
nevolent plan shall be unfolded, and thus educate, for an im- 
mensity of mutual happiness, his obedient offspring. That 
whole plan is one system of influence, mind acting upon mind, 
uncreated intelligence influencing in law, and in grace, 
created intelligences — and created minds influencing each 
other. This great principle of the moral universe has 
much to do with the practice of infant consecration. The 
design of that ordinance is to secure the influence of mind 
over mind in God's behalf. 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



15 



So far, therefore, as it is adapted in itself to promote 
that design, and so far as God has determined to employ it 
for this purpose : so far, moreover, as it asserts his righte- 
ous and absolute claim to property in universal mind, it is 
rationally based on the constitution of the moral universe 
itself. 

2. There is a natural reason for this ordinance in the 
domestic constitution. 

God has there given mind influence over mind in a most 
intense and responsible degree. The parties are, first, two 
beings, the parents ; and a third being, the child ; and all 
immortal. They are introduced into a state of moral 
probation ; and on the character formed and developed in 
their probationary state, depends their eternal destiny. The 
parental minds combined, are placed in circumstances cal- 
culated to give them an unrivalled degree of influence over 
the mind of the child. The ardent and mutual affection 
between the parties ; the complete superiority of the pa- 
rents to the child in every intellectual acquirement ; the 
entire dependence of the child on them for its opinions con- 
cerning itself, the world, and its God ; the habitual inter- 
course existing between them on the most ordinary occa- 
sions ; the power of securing the additional influence of the 
elder children over the younger, in harmony with that of 
the parents : all these circumstances united, conspire to fur- 
nish the parents with an almost absolute control over the 
earlier habits and opinions of their offspring. Such, then, 
is the construction of the family state, and such the moral 
influences exerted in the intimacies of its bosom. There 
the first issues of moral character are nurtured— the 
earliest impulses sent forth upon human minds and hearts 
begin to flow. There the first affection in an eternal series is 
warmed into conscious existence. There the destinies of mix- 
tions are cradled. There, in the smiles, the tears.; the 



16 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



playfulness, and the laws of home, the great moral history 
of human nature is portrayed in living hieroglyphics. They 
indeed form an essential part of it. 

This constitution, with all its springs of influence, was 
designed by its great Author for the purpose of forming cha- 
racter for the confirmed glories of eternity. It was ordained 
before the fall. It was adapted to preserve the choicest 
influences of holy parents, unimpaired, and to send them on 
accumulating through successive millenniads. The prophet 
Malachi asserts, that although God had the residue of the 
Spirit, he established the marriage relation between two in- 
dividuals that he might seek a godly seed. This was the 
definite and avowed object of the family state itself. For 
this, its living fountains were opened ; its deep and thril- 
ling intimacies awakened, its physical, intellectual, and mo- 
ral relations founded. These being universal, entering into 
the experience of every individual, were adapted to consti- 
tute a most permanent, affecting, and influential medium of 
communication, from heart to heart, throughout the race. It 
was adapted to make the wide brotherhood of human nature 
one broad ocean of affection, lying open with all its waves 
to the perpetual breath of truth : to the congenial impulses 
of the purest and sublimest motives. Thus its replenishing 
fountains of forming influence were to gush forth through 
all time, and thus its spiritual tides were to heave onward 
through eternity. It was on this constitution, that the 
Sanctifier would have taken his seat, in extending his pre- 
serving grace over unfallen probation. These were the 
cords which, thus pervading innumerable minds were pla- 
ced in the hands of Adam, and were to convey, through 
their whole extent, life and peace, or death and woe, ac- 
cording as he should touch them with the unction of obe- 
dience, or with the poison of rebellion. 

Had our first parents held fast their allegiance, and ex- 



household consecration. 



17 



erted all their influence to form their children to holiness; 
had death remained a stranger to our race ; and even down 
to the present time had the ancient patriarchs lived to ex- 
ert a holy influence, and the collected wisdom of six thou- 
sand years remained in its accumulated treasures to in- 
struct the present generation ; had there been growing also 
by its side ten thousand friendships, family alliances, long 
cherished intimacies, and ever kindling, ever strengthening 
attachment : O, then, in what heavenly places would the 
innocent chil of beauty have inhaled its earliest impres- 
sions. Yet such was the tendency and the prospect, before 
sin entered, " and with it death with all our woe." 

The institution of infant consecration, therefore, is 
founded in this great Providential arrangement, of placing 
mankind in successive generations. God could have crea- 
ted all men at once, and made us all contemporaries, instead 
of all descendants of Adam and Eve. He saw best, how- 
ever, in his infinite wisdom, to constitute the parental rela- 
tion, and connect with this constitution such a powerful 
system of influence and responsibilities. Does there not, 
then, a special reason at once appear, why parents, en- 
trusted with such a charge as the education of an immortal 
mind for an eternal residence in heaven, should be required 
to give a solemn pledge for the faithful discharge of their 
trust ? Would it not accord with the immense interests 
connected with their influence to secure that influence for 
the eternal welfare of the child ? Would it not be impor- 
tant to make deep the impression of the infinite value ot 
the young immortal? In view of the grand object of the 
domestic constitution, therefore, we discern a most urgent 
reason for the divine institution f household dedication. It 
evidently has no trivial origin — it has relations of most im- 
pressive and enduring importance, and seems at once to be 
seated in the deep foundations of human nature. 

2* 



CHAPTER II. 



Fundamental principles. The consequences of the apostasy. The 
gracious design of God to bless parent faithfulness. 

The strength and justice of this institution in its funda- 
mental principles will be farther apparent, if we consider, 
3. The consequences of the apostasy on the human 
character and the domestic constitution. Without controver- 
sy, those consequences in themselves are tremendous. It is 
now certain that every child, in forming his character for 
the judgment, will tit himself for everlasting destruction. 
Since the earliest affections of the infant are supremely sel- 
fish, he will invariably resist the claims of God, at their 
first presentation, and persist in his rebellion until it be- 
comes habitual and eternal, unless through divine grace he 
is renewed, forgiven, and prepared for heaven. In addition 
to this, his native and voluntary depravity, he will certainly 
be surrounded by evil and vicious examples ; he will 'cer- 
tainly be tempted to the vicious indulgence of his constitu- 
tional propensities, he will certainly see much, even in the 
holiest parents, which he cannot imitate with safety, and 
finally he will inevitably be exposed to the wiles of the 
grand adversary — the original, successful, and universal 
tempter. Call now to mind the principle of influence — 
mind influencing mind on moral subjects — and also the na- 
ture of the family constitution, giving to such influence an 
intense and unrivalled sway, and you will at once perceive 
that in these appalling circumstances the parents are placed 
on either side like two guardian angels. They, if their 
own example be evil, will confirm, strengthen, and foster the 
evil habits of their child. If they do not instruct him in the 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



19 



knowledge of God, he will grow up ignorant and impenitent. 
If they do not guard him from the contamination of evil and 
seductive examples — if they do not endeavor to enlist his 
feelings on the side of the true God — if they, above all, 
should inculcate views of God and religion fundamentally 
erroneous, they will exert a deep, continual, and efficacious 
influence in fitting their child for confirmed irreligion in 
time, and endless destruction when time shall be no more. 
This fearful influence will issue, not from a studied design 
to exert it, but from their neglect of pious duties ; from their 
love for worldly pleasures ; from their vain conversation. 
The character formed under such influence will of course 
reproduce itself in the next generation, and thus float down 
for ages, bearing with it an accumulating weight of guilt 
and mourning. Thus the institution of household relations, 
so admirably calculated to perpetuate holiness through 
successive ages ; so much like Paradise in all its original 
tendencies, is made, by man's depravity, the engine of trans- 
mitting evil dispositions and habits. The grand deceiver 
has only to poison the domestic fountain, in order to mingle 
his agency in the vast concerns of men, and cover the 
world with his own luxuriant and congenial harvest. The 
passions and the selfishness of men, bursting forth amidst 
innumerable occasions of excitement, have always required 
the most efficient restraints, even for the preservation of the 
common interests of society. 

How often, indeed, the most weighty considerations, the 
most affecting motives, which either time or eternity can 
furnish, are like the green withes of Sampson, or the fetters 
of the Gadarenian demoniac. It is, therefore, manifest, 
that since this controlless depravity is so universal ; since 
it spreads through all the avenues of human action ; since 
especially in the family circle these depraved minds are 
most intimately connected ; since thus there are indissoluble 



20 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



cords of influence binding all generations together, sin, once 
introduced, will spread like fire in the dry and thick forest. 
If, therefore, any thing is to be done for the restoration of 
man to holiness, the early sanctification of the domestic in- 
fluences would of course be regarded as a prominent and 
all -important measure. Unless grace had interposed, the 
augmenting depravity of man would have overwhelmed the 
human race with one universal and impervious darkness. 
The eruptions of depravity in different generations would 
have buried the mortal and spiritual interests of man under 
ten thousand cemented incrustations. If, then, restoring 
mercy were to exert at all her benevolent offices in our be- 
behalf, she would be directed by all right understanding of 
the permanent plans of God, to apply her energies to those 
cords of influence which bind the ages together. If she 
would elevate a sinking world, or even transiently suspend 
it, from the cavernous ruin beneath, she must apply her le- 
ver here. The nature of moral influence in itself ; its in- 
tense action in the domestic circle ; and above all, its appal- 
ling perversion through man's entire depravity, demand? 
therefore, that the parental agency be secured on the side 
of God's truth, in order permanently to establish any sys- 
tern of restoration. The work of restoration must employ 
these original and all-pervading energies ; and the system 
of gracious administration must be founded in these ever 
during and all -controlling principles. These principles are 
wrought into the very constitution of the moral universe, 
and into the whole structure of that fearful edifice — human 
nature — in its growth of generations. Through all the 
joints and timber and compartments of this edifice, the per- 
meating presence of evil agencies has left its monuments 
of possession. What shall be done ? The plague is raging : 
The prospective atonement has rendered forgiveness possi- 
ble, if the hearts of men are changed, and if the sinful race 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



21 



can be brought to repentance. The contrivances of mer- 
cy here commence their direct operation upon the moral 
condition of man. It was reasonable that the holy Agent 
of grace should prepare himself a passage through this 
thoroughfare of moral influence. It was reasonable that 
He should connect his arrangements for restoring holiness, 
with the same principles which were first designed for per- 
petuating holiness had our race never revolted. It was rea- 
sonable that in order to subdue the power of the devil, he 
should atttack the strong holds, which he had erected for him- 
self, out of these very principles. It was the more reasonable 
that this should be done, when the ravages which death was 
making among the guilty race, and especially when their 
imminent exposures, were considered. It was the dictate of 
reason, of benevolent necessity even, that some direct and 
well adapted course of effort should be commenced, in re- 
ference to the renovation of children. 

If such a course of effort were to be commenced,where 
could the eye of merciful visitation rest, if not upon paren- 
tal influence ? How could that influence be secured, even 
in the case of regenerated parents, better than by requiring 
from them such a pledge as should give them a power- 
ful sense of their responsibilities ; connected with such 
promises as should encourage them amidst their parental 
anxieties ? Therefore, in presenting the original reasons for 
establishing this practice, we adduce, 

4. The design of God to dispense spiritual blessings in 
connection with parental faithfulness. The principles al- 
ready contemplated illustrate the reasonableness and pro- 
priety, of such a plan. The actual existence of such a 
design, as an enduring principle of divine government, 
will now be contemplated. That God has always proceed- 
ed according to this general arrangement is evident from 
the earliest records of his gracious deeds. It is evident 



22 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



from that history, even in view of the progress of wicked- 
ness. Consider now the primeval operations of grace. 
After the fall, the promise of a Saviour was made to our 
first parents ; a Saviour who was to be their descendant* 
When, therefore, after the murder of Abel, the birth of 
Seth occurred, the believing mother of us all seems to have 
looked upon him in the remembrance and application of the 
merciful promise. From him the Messiah eventually de- 
scended. In the progress of mankind through the antedi- 
luvian period, we find two distinct classes mentioned, viz. the 
sons of God and the sons of men. From the fact that pious 
patriarchs of those days were the descendants of Seth ; com- 
bined with the fact that the intermarriages of the two clas- 
ses prepared the way for the universal corruption of the 
whole earth, we are authorized to infer that the distinction 
between the two classes was a distinction between the pious 
and impious families. The patriarchs in the line of Seth 
were the leaders among the sons of God, while those of 
Cain were undoubtedly the leaders among the sons of men. 
The names of Enos, Enoch, Methusaleh, and Noah, desig- 
nate the first ; and those of Cain, Lamech, Tubal-cain, are 
characteristic of the other. 

What an age of patriarchal moral power was that. The 
longevity of those men enabled them to exert an unrivalled 
agency over their descendants. Hundreds of years rolled 
away, and still the venerable patriarch was there. How 
must the aged Cain have looked, after the spirit of murder 
had drawn its lines on his countenance for hundreds of 
years. If he continued unrenewed, his memory must have 
been loaded with a catalogue of sins like the record of an 
empire, and in the aspect of his multiplied descendants he 
could behold his own scornful likeness forming, and his 
own terrible example applauded. For a while the sons of 
God enjoyed, from their longevity, the same advantages. 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



23 



Enoch, the seventh from Adam in the line of Seth, was 
contemporary with Adam himself, for the space of three 
hundred and eight years. Methusaleh, his son, enjoyed 
the instructions of the heavenly Enoch for three hundred 
years, and was able to extend them, after his father's won- 
derful translation, for six hundred and ninety- five years 
longer ! What a sublime spectacle, to have seen the aged 
Methusaleh, training up the young Noah, his grandson, 
and watching with tearful eye the labor of Noah in building 
the mysterious ark. The main channels of grace were 
certainly along the line of this sanctified parental and pa- 
triarchal influence. The object of this arrangement was 
to take advantage of the original family constitution, and 
establish it with its perpetual influences over the world. 
The time, however, for the complete accomplishment of this 
object, had not then arrived — may I not say, has not yet 
arrived. God, for wise reasons, perhaps that the destruc- 
tive nature of unholy agency might be more fully exhi- 
bited, permitted the attractions of the world to seduce from 
the family allegiance the sons of God. The righteous and 
the wicked began to mingle in families. The descendants 
of such marriage connections copied the more agreeable 
fashions of the licentious world ; the barriers were broken 
down, and the impious opinions and example of the wicked 
obtained currency and ascendency around the homes and 
the hearths of the saints. One holy patriarch after another 
went down to the grave. The spirit of grace forsook the 
altar-places which once he delighted to overshadow, and a 
deep-minded, dark-hearted race of giant men controlled, 
with violence and oppression, the abandoned world. When 
God had suffered this state of things to exist, until the full 
tendencies of perverted family influence were fearfully ex- 
hibited, until it resulted in the production of a countless race 
of old, experienced criminals, gigantic in stature and proudly 



24 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



intelligent in doing evil ; grovelling in imagination ; base 
in purpose ; unrestrained in conduct ; he announced his 
design to limit the days of man's probation to a much shorter 
period, and to destroy the whole of the antediluvian race — 
Noah and his family excepted. How strongly does the 
story of those ancient days evince the existence of a design 
already stated, to make the family relation the main channel 
of grace. After the deluge, the settlement of the human 
race was again commenced, in the family of Noah. Here, 
moreover, the evidence is equally convincing of the exist- 
ence of such an arrangement. The descendants, especi- 
ally of Shem and Japhet, appear to have included the piety 
of those ages. The art of war was introduced, probably, 
by Nimrod, a descendant of Ham. It is very clear that 
idolatry also originated with the descendants of Cush, the 
son of Ham. Egypt and Canaan, countries peopled by 
the descendants of Ham, show in the inspired record of the 
character and curse, the power of the family constitution 
when perverted. 

The evidence of existing piety from the time of Noah to 
Abraham is all to be- obtained from the history of the race 
of Shem and Japhet. So far, then, during a period of 2000 
years, there is evidence that the great amount of all the 
dispensations of grace has been on the principle of Messing 
children through the influence of believing parents. These 
facts will, moreover, explain the reason annexed to the 
second commandment, and through that explanation v/ill 
shed much admonition and encouragement around the family 
relations. They will explain how it is that God may visit 
the iniquities of the father upon the children unto the third 
and fourth generation of those that hate him. He has only 
to leave the wicked parents to exert their natural influence 
on their own children, and withhold his regenerating grace 
from those households whose parents never seek it in the 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



25 



behalf of their offspring. He will eventually punish the 
children themselves only for their own iniquities, yet their 
course of action was influenced by the examples and in- 
structions of their ungodly parents. There is, however, 
much to encourage, as well as much to admonish the parent. 
For he does bless with his converting grace the households of 
his faithful people. He does bless the holy patriarch's 
heavenly influence. He does, actually, as we have seen, 
bestow his gracious visitations according to this rational, 
permanent, and independent arrangement. 

Let me also here remark, with grateful adoration, how 
much, according to this principle, his goodness exceeds his 
severity ! While his curse that is in the house of the wicked 
may be removed in the third or fourth generation, his gra- 
cious design and its consequent train of spiritual blessings, 
may extend through a thousand generations of those that 
love him. Thus by carrying out the spirit and principle 
of this general design in the special work of his grace, all 
the precious promises will be accomplished, and the original 
constitution of the family state will thus be restored, to pour 
its millennial influences over the world, until 

u The rose of Eden blooms again for man." 

If, then, the design which we have stated does exist as a 
permanent gracious arrangement, how perfectly proper 
that an institution should be founded, in which the parent 
should promise to fulfil his high religious obligations, and 
in which the covenant-keeping God should promise to sus- 
tain him among his overwhelming responsibilities? Such 
an institution is infant consecration, founded originally by 
the direct appointment of Jehovah. Whether it ought now 
to be continued — whether the form of consecration should 
be water baptism, are questions hereafter to be examined ; 

3 



26 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



but that infant dedication was originally ordained by Jeho- 
vah himself, cannot of course be denied by any believer in 
the Bible. The considerations already suggested will 
show that the ordinance was based on the most important 
reasons. 



CHAPTER III. 

The Abrahamic covenant. Terms. Promises, seal, perpetuity. 

We have seen that the ordinance of infant consecration 
is from heaven ; and like all other divine institutions, hath 
a strong foundation — composed of the great elementary- 
truths of moral government and family constitution ; a 
foundation laid amidst the ruins of the fall, by the hand of 
mercy, embodying the great fact, that God designs to dis. 
pense spiritual blessings to children in connection with paren- 
tal faithfulness. The existence of this design, as a perma- 
nent plan, is manifest already by the consideration that 
even before any external form of consecration was enjoined, 
the transactions of grace had proceeded for two thousand 
years, in uniform accordance with its principles. The 
time at length arrived, when this design was to be brought 
more prominently to view, and when its principles were to 
become more powerful in action. The experience of ages 
had manifested, not to God, but in man's history, for man's 
future use, the importance of some distinct and solemn 
pledge, which should be adopted to secure the parental 
faithfulness, and with which the fulfilment of the gracious 
design was so intimately connected. At the calling of 
Abraham, idolatry had become firmly, and generally es- 
tablished, and the worship of the true God was sinking 
into disuse. How fearfully, in these facts of ancient days, 
is the contagious power of depravity exhibited! What 
lessons of instruction will be communicated to the ages to 
come ! what impressive admonitions to all worlds against 



28 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



the introduction of sin ! An Eden lost ; a world destroyed ; 
a new world corrupted. The voice of God calls from that 
burning portion of history, Beware of sin. 

God, however, was, in the course of all these events, 
developing the truth of his law, and the arrangements of 
his grace. He ordered the whole current of human affairs 
in view of the advent of Christ. This great event, on which 
the interest of a world depended, was now to be connected 
with the posterity of Abraham, and a nation was to be pro- 
vided as a cradle for the Saviour, and a nursery for the 
Church. For this purpose, and in view of all results con- 
sequent upon the establishment of Christianity, Abraham 
was called to go out from his native land, a lonely pilgrim, 
yet an heir of glorious promises. He was assured that in 
his posterity all the families of the earth should be blessed. 
He trusted in God, and by faith, saw the day of Christ and 
was glad. Then it was, that God, from a regard to the 
interests of mankind in all ages, revealed to him his gracious 
plan, and established the everlasting household covenant. 
This covenant, like the rainbow in its humid beauty, was 
to shine illustrious by the living principles which were 
essential to its formation. As this covenant combines in 
itself the aforesaid fundamental principles, and establishes, 
until the period of its own abolition, the practice of infant 
consecration, I shall solicit the candid attention of the 
reader to the following topics : 

h The nature and provisions of the Abrahamic cove- 
nant. 

II. The right of God's people, through all ages and 
nations, to its invaluable privileges ; and, 

III. The evidence that baptism is now, in the place of 
circumcision, the appointed seal of that everlasting cove- 
nant. 

J, The covenant, whose nature and provisions we are 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



29 



now to examine, is contained in the 17th chapter of 
Genesis. 

" And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the 
Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the 
Almighty God, walk before me and be thou perfect. And 
I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will 
multiply thee exceedingly. And Abram fell on his face ; 
and God talked with him, saying, As for me, behold my 
covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many 
nations. Neither shall thy name any more be called 
Abram ; but thy name shall be Abraham, for a father of 
many nations have I made thee. And I will make thee 
exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee ; and 
kings shall come out of thee. And I will establish my 
covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in 
their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God 
unto thee and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto 
thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art 
a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting pos- 
session, and I will be their God. And God said unto 
Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou 
and thy seed after thee, in their generations. This is my 
covenant which ye shall keep, between me and you, and 
thy seed after thee ; every man-child among you shall be 
circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your 
foreskin, and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt 
me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be cir- 
cumcised among you, every man-child in your generations, 
he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any 
stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy 
house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs 
be circumcised, and my covenant shall be in your flesh for 
an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man- 
child, whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that 
3* 



30 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



soul shall be cut off from his people ; he hath broken my 
covenant." 1-14. 

In order to understand the nature and provisions of this 
covenant, we must consider its terms, its promises, and its 
seal. 

1. What were the terms of the covenant? 

In order to enter this covenant it was essential that 
Abraham should give credible evidence of his faith. It was 
after his faith had been well known, and well tried, that 
his public connection with it was formed. Saving faith, or 
vital godliness, was required in the language of its intro- 
duction, " 1 am the Almighty God ; walk before me, and be 
thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between me and 
thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. And Abraham fell 
on his face." He exercised unwavering faith in the divine 
word, and consented to the holy- terms, which were essen- 
tial to his admission. 

As this covenant, moreover, respected his offspring as 
well as himself, it was essential that he should exercise that 
faith in a course of parental faithfulness. Thus, shortly 
after this transaction, the Lord, referring to this very house- 
hold promise, said, " For I know him, that he will command 
his children, and his household after him ; and they shall 
keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment ; that 
the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken 
of him." Gen. xviii. 19. It is manifest from this, that God 
intended to bless his posterity according to his parental 
faithfulness ; and that the promise to him, in behalf of his 
household, was made on this condition. 

2. What were the promises of this covenant ? 
The promises made to Abraham on the conditions above 
specified, respected both himself and his offspring. The 
grand object of this covenant, in all its bearings, was, the 
conveyance of spiritual blessings. Of this, the phrases, " to 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



31 



be a God to thee," " I will be their God," are conclusive 
proof. This was the language of God through all the 
Scripture when the gifts of saving grace were promised. 

Jer. xxxi. 33. " This shall be the covenant that I will 
make with the house of Israel, saith the Lord ; I will put my 
law in their inward parts, and will write it in their hearts, 
and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." In 
Ezekiel xi. 19, 20 ; xxxvi. 25-28 ; xxxvii. 26, 27 ; the 
same expressive language is employed for the same pur- 
pose. Thus, indeed, the new and everlasting covenant is 
emphatically expressed. The same language is as full of 
grace and truth when used to Abraham, as when used on 
any subsequent occasion. Not only the scriptural use, but 
the grand idea of the expression itself, " I will be thy God," 
obliges us to this interpretation. What more can any im- 
mortal spirit possess, than to have the great God his sure 
and eternal portion ? What bestowments of grace can be 
imagined not included here ? Nor is it an objection to these 
views, that temporal blessings are promised, in the context, 
as well as spiritual. This also, elsewhere, the Bible pro- 
mises : " No good thing will he withhold from them that walk 
uprightly. — / have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor his 
seed begging bread. — Godliness hath the promise of the life 
that now is, as well as of the life which is to come" The 
Lord is the guardian of his people in every interest, whe- 
ther temporal or spiritual ; and the angel that encampeth 
round about them, is not less the minister of his providence 
than of his grace. 

This glorious covenant conveys these spiritual blessings 
to the believer himself. His regeneration, his saving faith, 
his personal obedience to the truth, is presupposed, as essen- 
tial to his entrance upon these covenant privileges. The 
personal promise to him, as a believer, insured, 1st. Par- 
don ; 2d. Sanctification ; 3d. Perseverance. For all these, 



32 



HOtTSEHOLD CONSECRATION* 



together with all needful temporal good, are included in the 
phrase, I will be thy God, as explained by the Bible itself. 
His own regeneration is not promised, because it is itself a 
prerequisite to an entrance upon the covenant title. This 
being supposed, these other blessings the covenant insures 
to him absolutely and unconditionally, as a believer in Jesus 
Christ. His faith is the connecting bond, which unites him 
to these blessings of adoption. By thus securing the per- 
severing holiness of the believer himself, it forms a sure 
foundation for its farther procedures respecting his house- 
hold. Therefore, it promises to convey the blessings of 
grace to his offspring, on condition of his parental faithful, 
ness. The promise, as extended to his children, included 
regeneration in addition, and as the grand prerequisite to all 
the others. A promise so rich, was made only to living 
faith, and in proportion to the degree and eminence of pa- 
rental faithfulness. It placed the redeemed head of a fallen 
household on the rock of salvation, and roused him, by 
most thrilling motives, to attempt, while it encouraged him 
to expect, according to his operative faith, their certain re- 
demption also. This promise to the believing parent was 
conditional, and graduated in its gracious meaning, accord- 
ing to the measure of faith which should be manifested in 
the domestic constitution. Should the parent's light be 
obscured, and his conduct be grossly inconsistent ; should 
he break the covenant engagement ; should he fail, like 
Eli, to restrain his children ; should he be grossly deficient 
in any parental duty, he has reason to expeet the most dis- 
astrous consequences to his family. On the other hand, 
should he perform the conditions of the covenant ; should 
he exercise the higher degrees of faith, in its promises ; 
should he avail himself of all its possible resources — he 
may expect, not their salvation merely, but their distin- 
tinguished usefulness, their exalted temporal prosperity, and 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



S3 



their eminence of celestial glory. On this subject God 
hath always delighted to make his grace illustrious. His 
voice, to the confiding parent is, continually, Come up 
higher ! 

There is one point here which should be distinctly mark- 
ed. That all the spiritual blessings which the believer is 
to expect for his children he must expect on the ground of 
this special promise, and through the special visitations of 
the Holy Ghost. God has designed to employ the wonder- 
ful resources of the family state in his own cause; but he 
means to have us understand, that after all this adaptation 
of means, it is only through the special influences of grace, 
provided in the covenant promise, that the blessing shall 
come. 

3. What was the import of the seal ? 

The seal itself, in its great original import, was spirit- 
ual. The apostle declares it " a seal of the righteousness 
of the faith which he had, being yet uncircumcised.^ By the 
command of God it was placed upon the parent and the 
child. When placed upon the parent, it was a token of 
God's claim upon him, and of God's personal promise to 
him, and of his professed submission to the claim, and living 
faith in the promise. When placed upon the child, it was 
a token of God's claim upon the child ; of God's promise 
to the father on behalf of the child ; and also, of the father's 
consent to the claim, and faith in the promise. In both 
cases, the entire consecration of the individual on whom the 
seal was placed, by the faith of the father, was necessarily 
implied. When God said, I will be thy God, the submis- 
sion to the seal was the father's amen. When he said, 
" and of thy seed after thee," the sealing of the child was 
that same father's amen to this promise also. It implied, 
therefore, a pledge, in the first instance, of his own entire 
consecration to Jehovah ; and in the second, that he as sin- 



34 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



cerely consecrated his household as he did himself; that he 
himself would walk before God with a perfeet heart, and 
that he would thus command his household after him. The 
promise, on the part of God, to him, was like that to the 
jailer, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shaU be 
saved and thine house." The promise, on his part, to God, 
was like that of Joshua, " As for me and my house, we will 
serve the Lord." 

The seal of the Abrahamic covenant, therefore, when 
placed upon the father and his family, dedicated all the 
domestic relations, influences, and interests, to the Supreme 
God. When placed upon the father, it publicly attested 
that glorious arrangement of saving grace which was 
made between God and his soul. When placed upon the 
child, it was a significant sign of that same gracious arrange- 
ment, in its bearing, through a conditional promise, on the 
infant. When the consecrated infant himself believed, 
it then became to him a token of his interest in the promise 
of pardon, sanctification, and preserving grace. Then, and 
not till then, he also, personally, for himself and offspring, 
entered into covenant with God. The Abrahamic cove- 
nant, with its terms, its promises, and its seal, was a glorious 
ecclesiastical administration of the covenant of grace. It 
included the provisions of that covenant — and more also, 
unless the covenant of grace be defined, as including in 
itself the conditional provisions of the Abrahamic covenant, 
respecting the households of believers. The covenant of 
grace has not generally been thus defined. Perhaps it 
may, more correctly, be termed the covenant of grace, 
brought into public profession, and extending its promise to 
parents in behalf of their children, through certain appro, 
priate conditions. The great ideas are the same in either 
case, and the conclusions are precisely the same, respecting 
parental duties and parental hopes. The application of the 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



35 



seal, both to the parent and the child* was the appointed 
manner in which the ancient believer professed his faith, 
and solemnized his household consecration. 

The right of circumcision was well adapted as a seal 
of that faith which receives remission of sins through the 
shedding of blood, and professes a spiritual and internal 
change. Hence the frequent application of the term to 
the moral state of men. — "The Lord thy God will cir- 
cumcise thine heart."—" Ye stiff-necked and uncircumci- 
sed in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost, 
as your fathers did, so do ye." There was also a special 
propriety in the selection of circumcision, as the seal, be- 
cause it prefigured a bleeding Saviour to come ; and pre- 
served the nation of Israel distinct from other nations, until 
the Messiah appeared. The last suggestion will explain 
particularly the reason of its adoption, and will vindicate 
the propriety of a change of the seal, when the gospel 
was to be published through all the world, and the many 
nations were to hail the Chaldean Shepherd as their father. 
The advantages of this seal were sufficient* therefore, to 
compensate for the disadvantage of its application only to 
one sex, when it is remembered that the other sex was con- 
sidered as characterized and included in the household, as 
surely as if any other seal had been selected : and that the 
circumcision would harmonize well with the Jewish cere- 
monies, with which, for ages, it was to be associated, and 
might be easily exchanged for another, when the Chris- 
tian dispensation, with its more liberal privileges* should 
commence. 

The same general course of reasoning will explain the 
propriety of especially including in the promise, the land 
of Canaan, as the everlasting inheritance of the literal de- 
scendants of Abraham. It was a promise subordinate to 
the main design, like the establishment of the Jewish na- 



36 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



tion, and connected in this manner with the coming of the 
Mediator, in the fulness of time, on which event the power 
and validity of all the gracious arrangements depended. 

On the whole, we arrive at the following unembarrased 
conclusions : — 

1. That Abraham entered into this covenant after having 
given evidence of his faith. 

2. That this covenant was a divine arrangement esta- 
blished by Jehovah himself, with which Abraham, as a be- 
liever, was called to comply. 

3. That the terms of this covenant were personal faith, 
and parental fidelity. 

4. That all the promises of this covenant were made in 
and through the glorious Mediator. 

5. That this covenant promised spiritual blessings as the 
main scope of its provisions, and temporal blessings as sub- 
ordinate and collateral. 

6. That it promised spiritual blessings to Abraham, ab- 
solutely on his own behalf, and conditionally on behalf of 
his offspring. 

7. That Abraham was required to seal this covenant 
by circumcising himself and his household ; and that cir- 
cumcision on these principles was personal and household 
consecration. 

8. That the same mode of consecration was used for 
his children which was used ror himself. 

9. That this circumcision was the appointed token, or 
memorial, between God and Abraham of this spiritual 
covenant. 

10. That this covenant is repeatedly declared to be 
everlasting. 

The proof of the final conclusion is in the language of 
the covenant itself. I will make between me and thee an 
everlasting covenant. In 1st Chron. xvi. 15, 17, that co- 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



37 



venant is portrayed in the following manner : " Be ye 
mindful always of his covenant, of the word which he com- 
manded to a thousand generations. Even the covenant 
which he made with Abraham, and of his oath unto Isaac ; 
and hath confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to 
Israel for an everlasting covenant. 11 These assertions re- 
specting the perpetuity of this covenant correspond with 
the natural conclusion which results from the permanent 
character of its fundamental principles. What can be 
more valuable to the believer, during any period of time» 
than a full assurance of his title to its unsearchable pri* 
vileges ? 



4 



CHAPTER IV, 



The right of Christians to the Abrahamic covenant. Covenant not abo- 
lished — confirmed — transferred, at the expense of the Jews, tothe Gen- 
tiles. 

We shall now proceed to consider, 

II. The right of God's people, through all ages and 
nations, to the invaluable privileges of the Abrahamic co- 
venant. 

The evidence that Christians are entitled to all the pri- 
vileges of the Abrahamic covenant is abundant and con- 
vincing. In the Scriptures of truth a series of positions are 
maintained, which constitute, together, a most satisfactory 
proof of the perpetuity of that covenant, and of the right of 
Christians to its promises. 

1. That covenant has never been abolished. 
The truth of this sentiment might be strongly argued, 
from the fundamental principles upon which it was origin- 
ally established. Not only the great reasons remain un- 
changed, but the institution is as well adapted to the circum- 
stances of all ages and nations, as the age and nation of 
Abraham. The family constitution remains the same, with 
all its moral bearings, and the responsibilities of parents 
remain ; and the design of God to bless believing parents 
in their consecrated households is incorporated into the liv- 
ing promises and procedures of God. If God has publicly 
recognized these principles, and this covenant, as a part of 
his perpetual system of administration, it is not to be sup- 
posed that he has now abandoned it. If, however, he has 
given up that covenant, some intimation of such relinquish- 
ment must be contained in the Scriptures. It may be well 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



39 



to examine a few passages which are sometimes adduced 
to prove the abolition of the Abrahamic covenant. The 
language of Jeremiah xxxi. 31-33, is quoted for this 
purpose : 

" Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make 
a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house 
of Judah ; not according to the covenant that I made with 
their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to 
bring them out of the land of Egypt ; which my covenant 
they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the 
Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with 
the house of Israel : After those days, saith the Lord, I 
Will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their 
hearts ; and will be their God> and they shall be my 
people." 

That this text, however, does not assert the termination 
of the Abrahamic covenant, is evident from several consi- 
derations. The first is, that the Covenant here said to be 
superseded, was a covenant formed hundreds of years after 
the existence of Abraham. — " The covenant which I made 
with your fathers in the day when I took them out of Egypt. 1 * 

2. The apostle, in his jEpistle to the Hebrews, 8th and 9th 
chapters, quotes this passage, and explains it of the Jewish 
and Christian dispensations. The Levitical priesthood and 
the sacrifices, the tabernacle and its furniture, were all laid 
aside. These are particularly referred to by Paul, as mat- 
ters appertaining to that covenant which was done away. 

3. The new covenant is not called new, in distinction from 
the Abrahamic covenant, but from the civil and ecclesias- 
tical establishments of the Jewish nation. A new dispen- 
sation had commenced, and the old was expected to vanish 
away. 4. Another consideration is, that the new covenant 
is expressed in almost the same language with the Abra- 



40 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION* 



hamic covenant The main promise is the same, " I will 
be their God and they shall be my people." In it God pro- 
mises to put his law in their hearts, and to prevent the final 
apostasy of his redeemed children from his service. This is 
the covenant of grace. The Abrahamic covenant breathes 
the same spirit, and is the covenant of grace brought into pub 
lie profession, and extending its promise to parents in behalf 
of their children. This passage, therefore* strongly evinces 
that the ancient household covenant is not abolished. 

The expression in Daniel ii. 44, is also produced by 
some, to prove that the two dispensations were in truth two 
distinct Churches ; or that the present Church commenced 
its existence with the advent of Christ. " In the days of those 
kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom that shall 
never be destroyed." Are we to understand that God had 
no spiritual kingdom before the coming of the Saviour ? This 
we know is an unscriptural sentiment. Hundreds of years 
before the Messiah came, the harps of Judah had chanted 
the glories of the kingdom of grace. It should be consider- 
ed, therefore, that this prophecy was spoken in view of the 
perishable kingdoms of earth ; and while Assyria, Persia, 
Greece, and Rome, were successively overthrown, the pro- 
phet saw the pure gospel winning its way triumphant over 
the obstacles in its path, and finally established in a com- 
plete ascendancy throughout the world. There was, there- 
fore, a propriety in calling the commencement of a new 
administration the setting up of a kingdom. Since, there- 
fore, this passage cannot mean that God had no spiritual 
kingdom before 5 since it cannot mean that one kingdom of 
God was destroyed in order to establish another, there be- 
ing no intimation of this in the passage ; since, too, the in- 
terpretation we have suggested is the fair and obvious con- 
struction ; it is manifest that the passage does not authorize 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



41 



the sentiment, that the Abrahamic covenant is abolished. 
If neither of these passages inculcate that doctrine, I am 
fully persuaded that it will not be found in the Bible. 

The distinction we have made between the covenant 
made with Abraham, and extending its glorious promises 
to his children ; and the covenant of national customs and 
ecclesiastical ceremonies, enjoined upon the Jews, is abun- 
dantly sanctioned. The covenant of Sinai gendereth to 
bondage, but that of faith is full of free and cheering pro- 
mises. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of 
promise. Isaac was a child consecrated to God under the 
sealed covenant, and was indeed a child of promise. By 
exercising the faith of his patriarchal father, he too could 
bring his children to the altar of consecration, and pledge 
a father's faithfulness, and plead Jehovah's grace. 

As the destruction of the Jewish system of rites and cere, 
monies did not invalidate the original gracious covenant, so 
the enacting of those regulations did not disannul the pro. 
mise. Hence the covenant of promise could remain when 
these superincumbent things were removed, to cheer us and 
bless us with all its undiminished privileges. Thus, in Gal. 
iii. 17, we read, " And this I say, that the covenant that was 
confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four 
hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should 
make the promise of none effect." Notwithstanding, then, any 
changes which may have occurred since, in the circum- 
stances of the Jewish nation, the great and invaluable Abra. 
hamic covenant retains its unchanging truth. 

If, then, this covenant is founded on such imperishable 
reasons, if it is so well adapted to the necessities of our race 
throughout the revolutions of time, if it promises blessings 
of the soul to the parent in behalf of his immortal offspring, 
if it is proclaimed an everlasting covenant, and if it is no 
4* 



42 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



where in sacred Scripture abolished, it certainly comes be- 
fore us with a most impressive aspect. 

2. God has confirmed this covenant, instead of abolish- 
ing it. 

In the delightful comparison of Paul between Moses and 
Christ, this sentiment appears to be decidedly inculcated. 
Moses was a servant, and faithful in all his house, for a 
testimony of those things which were to be spoken after. 
In all that Moses did, he acted not as a son, but as a ser- 
vant ; was not proprietor of the house, but merely a servant 
of the proprietor. Christ acts as a son ; and he has more 
honor than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath huilded the 
house hath more honor than the house. According to this 
argument, Moses himself, considered spiritually, was the 
workmanship, i. e. the building of Christ. He himself was 
a part of that house in which he was called to serve. The 
apostle, however, declares, that we, i. e. believers, are 
Christ' 's house, and that Christ is over his oivn house ; there- 
fore Christ was over Moses, as he is over us, over ancient 
believers, over those of later ages, over all believers of 
every age, as constituting one spiritual body ; one spiritual 
house, of which he is the head. According to this view of 
the subject, the Church has ever been one in both dispen- 
sations, and the covenant confirmed before of God in Christ, 
is thus confirmed through all time by the reigning glory of 
the Messiah. In Gal. iii. 15, we read, " Brethren, we speak 
after the manner of men. Though it be but a man's cove- 
nant, yet, if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth 
thereto." The covenant, then, which God made with Abra- 
ham, is confirmed unto every believer on the same terms, 
and is wisely calculated to waft the blessing from genera- 
tion to generation. We are now prepared for the third po- 
sition, that, 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



43 



3. This covenant is not only confirmed, hut distinctly 
transferred, with all its privileges, to the Gentiles. 

The proof of this position is contained in many passages 
of scripture. In Gal, iii. 13, 14, it is said, " Christ hath re- 
deemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for 
us^jfor it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a 
tree. That the blessing of Abraham might come on the 
Gentiles through Jesus Christ ; that we might receive the 
promise of the Spirit through faith. 11 The great doctrine 
of justification by faith, in the atoning Saviour, is here 
clearly taught, and in view of the general atonement the 
invitations of mercy have been sent out to the Gentile. 
The atonement was necessary in order that the Holy 
Spirit might consistently bestow his influences upon the hu- 
man race, and therefore, it is through the doctrine of the 
atonement that the design of blessing the successive gene- 
rations of men lias been formed. When, therefore, the 
Saviour is said to have suffered, that the blessing of Abra- 
ham might come on the Gentiles, and that he might receive 
the promise, it is certainly meant that we also should be 
justified by the same faith, and that we should possess with 
him the promise of the Spirit in behalf of our children. 
This was the blessing which Abraham possessed, and this 
was the promise in which his parental heart delighted. 
The passage, therefore, is conclusive in proving that Gentile 
Christians are entitled to all the privileges of the ancient 
covenant. " Know ye, therefore, that they which be of faith 
are blessed with faithful Abraham." How explicit : how 
positive : how precious is the assurance ! Gal. iii. 26-29 : 
t( For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, 
have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there 
is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female ; 
for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, 



44 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the pro* 
mise." This last verse most surely implies that all Chris- 
tians are the spiritual seed of Abraham, and that therefore 
they are heirs of the promise with Abraham, and have the 
same title with him to all its privileges. In the fourth chap- 
ter of Romans, the admission of the Gentile believers, into 
these exalted privileges, is inculcated with great force, ex- 
plicitness, and satisfaction. There it is asserted, that he re- 
ceived circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of the 
faith which he had being uncircumcised, that he might be 
the father of all them that believe, though they be not cir- 
cumcised. Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace, 
to the end that the promise might be sure to all the seed, 

If, then, the promise to Abraham was, that God would 
be a God to him and to his seed after him ; if he received 
this promise through faith in the Redeemer ; if this im- 
plied great encouragement to him to labor for the spiritual 
welfare of his children ; if this covenant is founded on im- 
mutable principles, and is not abolished, but solemnly con- 
firmed ; if the great embankments, which for ages had 
kept the waters of holy influence in one solitary channel^ 
were torn away when the Saviour came, that the blessing of 
Abraham might flow to the Gentiles ; and if, finally, every 
real believer is counted as a descendant of Abraham, and if 
the promise is sure to all his seed, is not the evidence abun- 
dantly decisive, as to the right of Christians to that same 
household promise, that same covenant of generations ? 
There is, however, one more position, which will serve to 
make the argument more impressive. 

4. This covenant is not only bestowed upon the Gentiles, 
but it is even bestowed upon us at the expense of the Jews. 

The full import of this last statement may be seen in a 
candid exposition of the eleventh chapter of Romans. The 
Jews, the natural branches, are there represented as broken 



household consecration. 



45 



off from their own olive-tree, and the Gentiles as taken 
from the wild olive-tree of nature, and graffed into the olive- 
tree of grace, into the Church of the living God, to be 
nourished by the root and fatness of new covenant privi- 
leges. No new olive-tree is planted, but the Gentiles are 
represented as graffed into the old olive-tree, into the same 
privileges which the Jews by their outrageous unbelief had 
forfeited. 

If, now, any one wishes to gain just impressions of the 
value of this covenant, let him consider, 1st. The poor Jews 
broken off and abandoned to perpetual unbelief and dark' 
ness. From generation to generation the same hard-heart- 
ed infidelity travels on. No light seems to find its way 
into their spiritual condition, no arguments have power to 
dispel their delusions, no amount of evidence is equal to the 
work of conviction. Can any one look upon thai long 
continued moral wreck, and not remember the apostolic 
prophecy ? Wrath has come upon them to the uttermost. 
Can any mind study that mournful history, and not 1 remble 
at the thought of perverted family influence ? 

Yet, amidst these painful emotions, consider, 2d. The 
power of the ancient covenant in securing their restoration t 
God hath not finally cast away that people. Their delu- 
sions shall speedily vanish ; their long, heavy night of thick 
darkness shall be turned into refulgent morning. For God 
will remember the covenant which he made with Abraham. 
In this respect, their tenacious observance of their Jewish 
rites and ceremonies ; their preserv ition as a distinct peo. 
pie in all their wanderings ; their universal abhorrence of 
idolatry, a sin to which their fathers were so much addict- 
ed : all these are scarcely less adapted to the doctrine of 
their restoration, than is their blindness or their obstinacy 
to the fulfilment of the terrible sentence of their righteous 
Judge. 



46 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



If, then, it is a fact, that such judgments follow the per- 
version of these great covenant truths ; if it be so that our 
only hope of redemption is in the far reaching grasp of that 
patriarchal covenant ; if, through this most melancholy fall 
of theirs, salvation has come to the Gentiles ; if, coming 
with no stinted measure, she has brought the fulness of all 
these heavon-born privileges, and poured them at our feet, 
shall we not pri?.e an inheritance for ourselves and our off- 
spring in that everlasting covenant ? Shall we not feel our- 
selves bound by every persuasive motive to affix its seal — 
whatever that seal may be — upon our immortal children ? 

The conclusion to which we are conducted is, that since 
God has not abolished the Abraharnic covenant ; since he 
has positively confirmed it in the gospel dispensation ; since 
he has even bestowed it explicitly, with all its immunities, 
Upon the Gentile believers ; since, finally, he has even done 
this at fearful expense to the original proprietors themselves, 
it is the certain'privilege of every believing parent to conse- 
crate his children to God on the terms of that covenant ; 
and it is his solemn duty to affix the nppropriate token of 
faith and, promise upon them, according to the example of 
the Church for almost four thousand years. 



CHAPTER V. 



The change of the seal. Circumcision abolished. Baptism substi- 
tuted. 

Having discussed the nature of the Abrahamic cove- 
nant, and the right of believers in all places and times to 
its glorious privileges, we shall proceed to prove, 

III. That baptism is now, in the place of circumcision, 
its authorized and appropriate seal. 

We hope it will be remembered, that the existence of 
infant consecration, as an institution of Heaven, founded on 
unchanging reasons, and secured by a perpetual covenant, 
whose duties and blessings are extended with the whole 
extent of the gospel itself, has been already abundantly 
proved. However, therefore, the present question may be 
determined, the duty of parents in some form to dedicate 
their households to God, is even in the present stage of the 
argument perfectly clear. It will be seen, moreover, that 
the facts and principles already established will not only 
harmonize with the sentiment, that baptism is now the seal, 
but will even constrain us to its adoption. We therefore 
consider it the duty of parents to oonsecrate their children 
to God by baptism, for the following reasons : 

1. It is certain that circumcision is abolished. By this 
I do not mean that circumcision is abolished merely as a 
form of infant consecration, but as a seal of the covenant, 
either for adults or infants. It should be remembered that 
circumcision was for adults as well as for infants. Abra- 
ham dedicated himself to God in this form. When the 



48 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



Christian dispensation commenced, the Jews, understanding 
that believing Gentiles were to be admitted to the Church, 
the ancient Church, with all its undiminished privileges— the 
Jewish Church even, for Christianity commenced its earliest 
establishments among the Jews, and Jews were its earliest 
and most successful preachers — thought that the Gentiles 
ought to be circumcised. The question was referred to 
the apostles ; and they decided that this yoke was not to be 
put upon the Gentiles, because it was a yoke which neither 
they nor their fathers were able to bear. This passage of 
course decides the case of the Gentiles. Circumcision is 
certainly abolished, so far as we are concerned. Hence 
the conclusion, that as we are introduced into all the rights 
and privileges of the children of Abraham, we are to con- 
secrate our children to God, in the use of some other seal. 

I am prepared to go farther, and say circumcision is abo- 
lished as far as Jewish Christians are concerned. The 
reasons assigned by the apostle for not requiring it among 
the Gentiles are equally valid for its abolition among the 
Jews — which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear. 
In this expression they did not consider circumcision merely 
as a form of infant consecration, but as a rite binding them, 
in the circumstances, to certain other rites and ceremonies, 
which constituted the ritual service of the old dispensation. 
He that is circumcised is a debtor to keep the whole law — 
i. e. to observe all those rights and ceremonies. As, there* 
fore, circumcision had served this temporary purpose, of 
binding the ancient son of the sealed covenant to the heavy 
and cumbersome observances with which, for wise reasons, 
it was associated until the fulness of times, it was very 
reasonable that now, when that whole'system of carnal ordi- 
nances was to be abolished, a new and better rite should 
be substituted, as a seal of the everlasting covenant, while 
this should be left gradually to vanish away. With these 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



49 



scriptural and rational views, the whole history of the apos- 
tolic Church perfectly corresponds ; and all the language 
of apostolic scripture corroborates it. While, therefore, 
these reasons for its abolition existed, the reasons for the 
selection of that particular form had ceased to exist. If 
that form served to indicate the cleansing of sin by bloody 
now the blood of atonement had been already shed. If 
that form served to secure the coming of the Saviour as 
a descendant of Abraham by keeping the nation distinct, 
the Saviour had now come, and that particular purpose was 
no longer necessary. If that form had long been associated 
with the observance of the ceremonial law, now since the 
ceremonial law had expired, it was well that the association 
of the mind should be changed, and a new form, bearing a 
similar relation to the contents of the new dispensation, 
which this had borne to the old, and sustaining to the ever- 
lasting covenant itself all, and even more than all, the 
appropriateness which this had ever sustained, should be 
substituted in its place. Since, then, the covenant remains, 
with all its reasons, privileges, and authority, unabolished, 
confirmed, extended, and this at great expense, it must pos- 
sess some appropriate and authentic seal. Since circum- 
cision is displaced from that exalted honor, some other seal 
must have been provided. Whatever that new seal is, it 
is the duty and the privilege of the Christian parent to apply 
it to himself and his offspring, because he is an heir of that 
same gracious and unchanging covenant, and the applica- 
tion of its seal is the direct and public profession of faith in 
its provisions. 

2. Whatever that new seal is, there is but one seal, one 
form of dedication, both for the parent and the child. This 
was the case in the ancient administration of the Abrahamic 
covenant. Then both the believing adult and his infant 
child were circumcised. Faith was an indispensable con- 
5 



50 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



dition on the part of Abraham, and his entrance into this 
ecclesiastical covenant was an act of solemn profession. 
He thereby declared his dependence for salvation on a 
Saviour to come, and dedicated by the same rite both him- 
self and his household to the God of the covenant. His 
faith respecting his own justification, and respecting the 
promises of God to his children, each terminated upon Jesus 
Christ as its all-sufficient object. It was proper, therefore, 
that it should be expressed in the same manner, indicated 
by the same rite, and lay fast hold of the covenant by the 
same divinely appointed seal. Since, then, the spiritual co- 
venant itself remains ; since remaining, it must have some 
seal or token by which our consent to its arrangements 
shall be publicly given ; and since the new seal must 
therefore be the same in the consecration of the child as in 
the consecration of the parent* it conclusively follows, that 
whatever rite or form is now the seal of the covenant to the 
believing adult, is of course to be applied to the consecra- 
tion of his offspring. 

3. Baptism by water in the name of the Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost, is the seal of the covenant to all believers. 
That baptism is the ordinance by which the adult believer 
professes his faith in Christ, his dependence on the regene- 
rating and sanctifying influences of the Holy Ghost, and his 
entire dedication of himself to the Most High, is a fact well 
known to all those who are at all familiar with the contents 
of the New Testament. * Go ye, and teach all nations, 
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, 
and of the Holy Ghost." " He that believeth and is bap- 
tized shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be 
damned." The numerous instances of baptism mentioned 
in the Acts of the Apostles, and the epistolary addresses to 
those who are members of the Church, enforcing the ob- 
ligation of their baptismal engagements, are sufficient proof 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



51 



of the sentiment that baptism is the authorized mode of 
Christian consecration. That baptism is the appropriate 
seal of the gracious covenant, is an irresistible inference 
from the positions already established. We have proved 
that the covenant with Abraham was a spiritual covenant ; 
that its spiritual provisions are extended to the Gentiles, and 
that in baptism the believer expresses that faith by which 
he appropriates to himself its invaluable blessings, and 
therefore baptism is the seal to him of the covenant into 
which he enters. If, then, it is certain that this covenant 
requires the consecration of his children, and promises spirit 
tual blessings to him on their behalf ; if the same seal is 
to be applied to the child which is applied to the adult, then 
the duty and the privilege of the Christian parent to dedi- 
cate his household to God by baptism is clearly and incon- 
testably established. That baptism is now, in the place of 
circumcision, the appropriate seal, will be evident from a 
consideration of the points of resemblance. 

Both are seals of the righteousness of faith. The doc- 
trine of justification by faith in a Mediator has ever been the 
cardinal doctrine of the Church. The apostle Paul, when 
proving this fundamental sentiment, in view of those who 
had sought salvation in strict adherence to mere carnal ob- 
servances, produces the example of all the holy men of old, 
showing that from the days of Abel to his own, the whole 
noble army of confessors were witnesses to the truth of his 
doctrine. Respecting Abraham he positively asserts, in 
Romans iv. 11, "That he received the sign of circumcision 
as a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet 
being uncircumcised." Circumcision was therefore a seal 
of the righteousness of faith. The great doctrine of jus- 
tification by faith alone was signified in it, and the covenant 
of mercy was thereby sealed between God and the believer. 
Need I even tarry to prove that baptism is a seal of the 



52 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



righteousness of faith 1 "Believe and be baptized," "If 
thou believest with all thy heart, thou mayest." As an- 
ciently no adult could be circumcised without believing, so 
now no adult can be baptized without believing. 

In the ancient days the believer professed faith in a 
Saviour to come : in the new dispensation the believer 
professes faith in a Saviour that has already come. In both 
cases the believer was justified by his faith, and the circum- 
cision then was what the baptism is now, a seal of his 
gracious justification. 

To each, faith is an indispensable condition in the same 
sense. The inquiry sometimes rises, How can the baptism 
of children be consistent with the command to believe and 
be baptized ? An attention to the point of resemblance will 
answer the inquiry. Abraham could not be circumcised 
himself until he had given evidence of his faith. The un- 
baptized adult believer cannot now be baptized without 
giving evidence of faith. The commands to believe and be 
baptized in the New Testament are not addressed to infants, 
but to adult unbelievers. So under the old dispensation. 
The adult heathen who came to be circumcised as did 
Abraham, was to believe first and then to be circumcised. 
In this respect, therefore, the command, so far as it relates 
to adults, is precisely the same, requiring faith first, and 
then offering circumcision or baptism as a seal of the right- 
eousness of the faith exercised previous to participation in 
the ordinance. 

Nor is the resemblance less complete in respect to the 
consecration of children. The ancient believer presented 
his household, by circumcision, to that God to whom he had 
first, with inward sincerity and with external rite, conse- 
crated himself. Even where the parent was himself a child 
of the covenant in his infancy, and circumcised at eight 
days old, he was expected, by living faith, to act when he 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



53 



dedicated his offspring to the God of his fathers. Thus 
Isaac consecrated Jacob and Esau. Thus Jacob devoted 
his group of young patriarchs to the God of Abraham. 
Faith in the Shiloh of future times was essential to the ac- 
ceptable performance of the severe but significant cere- 
mony. Now if the positions we have taken be correct, and 
baptism is to be applied as a seal of the covenant to the chil- 
dren of believers, faith, of course, is professedly exercised 
by every parent who claims, in behalf of his household, the 
privilege of consecration. The practice of admitting pa- 
rents, who merely assented to the confession of faith with 
the understanding, to present their households for baptism, 
was utterly unauthorized, and in direct violation of all the 
terms of the covenant. The plan of the halfway covenant, 
as it was called, was not only unauthorized, but it was a 
direct and sacrilegious perversion of these spiritual and glo- 
rious privileges. When the jailer heard the apostolic direc- 
tion, the voice said, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
thou shalt be saved and thy house." It is true, the ordinance 
can be administered when but one of the parents is a be- 
liever : but, in such cases, the parental relation is regarded 
as sanctified in consequence of the believer's faith. " Else 
were your children unclean, but now are they holy. ,, Is 
it not, then, perfectly evident, that faith was equally essen- 
tial to circumcision as it is now to baptism ; and in both 
cases, is it not an indispensable condition, in the same sense 
and in all respects 1 

Both denote the same spiritual change. 

That the depraved heart of man must be renewed by 
the efficacious grace of the Holy Spirit, is a most important 
doctrine of the Christian religion. The claims of God are 
upon every individual, through the whole course of moral 
action, and these claims are in every instance resisted 
where the selfish heart is not changed by the sanctification 
5* 



54 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



of the Spirit. When God demands of every believing pa- 
rent, that he shall yield up his child to these supreme and 
righteous claims, and shall consecrate him forever to his 
service, he has rendered the very form of consecration an 
impressive memento of the necessity of regeneration, and 
held up to the anxious hope of the parent a cheerful and 
animating promise : " I will pour out my Spirit upon thy seed 
and my blessing upon thine offspring." Accordingly, both 
in the ancient and the modern form, the purification of the 
heart by divine grace is the great doctrine most prominent- 
ly illustrated, whether the individual consecrated be an 
adult or infant. " For he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, 
neither is that circumcision which is outward in thefiesh : but 
he is a Jew which is one inwardly ; and circumcision is that 
of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise 
is not of men but of God." From this passage it is evident 
that the spiritual import of circumcision is not realized unless 
the inner man is renewed. And the Lord thy God will cir- 
cumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that 
thou mayest live. Circumcision, therefore, was truly " an 
outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace." 
It signified that surrender of the heart to the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and that spiritual dedication to his service, which is 
the fruit of the Spirit, in every instance of its occurrence^ 
either in the present or in former dispensations. That the 
ordinance of baptism denotes precisely the same thing, is 
abundantly manifest from the sacred Scriptures : " The like 
figure whereunto, baptism doth also now save us ; not the 
putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a 
good conscience toward God" — the response of a regene- 
rated heart to the calls of Jehovah. " Then will I sprinkle 
clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean ; from all your 
filthiness, and from all your idols willl cleanse you. A new 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



55 



heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put with' 
in you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your 
Jlesh, and will give you a heart of flesh." Ezekiel xxxvi. 
26. The import of the word, and the ordinance, baptism, 
is purification : the external application of the purifying ele- 
ment is emblematic of the inward operations of the purify- 
ing Spirit. Hence said Ananias to Saul, "And now, why 
tarriest thou ? arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy 
sins." It is certain, therefore, that both circumcision and 
baptism denote an inward and spiritual change, and indicate 
the same great regenerating process. The resemblance is 
perfect, in extending the comparison, either to adults or 
children. The adult believer received circumcision as a 
token of his inward and spiritual grace ; and dedicated, by 
the same form, his children, as a sign of their necessity, and 
of God's promise in reference to the Spirit's work within. 
The adult believer receives baptism as a token of the same 
inward cleansing, in his own case, and dedicates his child in 
the same form, indicating the same necessity, and the same 
glorious promise, which was anciently represented by cir- 
cumcision. If, then, the covenant remains, promising spi- 
ritual blessings to parents on behalf of their children ; if 
circumcision, the ancient seal, is abolished ; and if baptism, 
introduced at the very time of its abolition, certainly signi- 
fies the very same thing that circumcision did, then is it not 
conclusively established, that baptism is now in the place of 
circumcision the seal of that everlasting covenant 7 and 
that the form of consecration, for both parent and child, 
appropriate to the circumstances, and authorized by Christ, 
is baptism, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost? 

Again : Baptism is to the Lord's supper what circumcu 
sion was to the passover. Those that were admitted to the 
passover, an ordinance originating in a temporal and na- 



56 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



tional deliverance, but so appointed as to be representative 
of the Lamb of God, and analogous to the design of the 
Lord's supper, were the consecrated households of Israel. 
Circumcision preceded the reception of the passover ; for, 
although the rite itself was applied to the males, yet the 
whole household was considered as a consecrated house- 
hold. The distinction was as strongly marked between 
" the daughters of Israel" and " the daughters of the uncir- 
cumcised,' , as between the sons of Abraham and the unco- 
venanted Gentile. The children, however, were not admit- 
ted to partake of the passover, until they were of sufficient 
age to understand its meaning, and approach in faith. Ap- 
ply, now, these principles to the relation which baptism 
sustains to the Lord's supper. Baptism, in its nature adapt- 
ed to all classes, is evidently considered, in the Scripture, 
as preceding the communion. The sacrament of the Lord's 
supper is an ordinance for professed believers only, in which 
they unite to commemorate their spiritual deliverance. If 
it is asked why we do not universally admit our children 
to the communion, the answer is, that we do admit them 
just as soon as they give us evidence of faith in Christ. 
Such a profession was implied in the ancient passover, when 
it was celebrated acceptably. Yet that ordinance had a 
temporal and national import, as well as a spiritual and 
t ypical signification. The Christian passover has no such 
temporal and national associations ; it is an ordinance in 
its design and recollections altogether spiritual. The bap- 
tized child of the Church is therefore told, that as soon as 
he will yield to the righteous claims of God, and to the in- 
fluences of the Spirit, and to the mediation of Christ, the 
very change indicated as indispensable in his baptism itself, 
he shall be welcomed to the communion. He is invited, by 
all the proffered advantages of a spiritual and immediate 
union with the Church, to acknowledge the justice of Jeho» 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



57 



vah's claims, and to consecrate himself, in heart and life, to 
the God of the everlasting covenant. If he hardens himself 
against these merciful invitations, he is admonished, that not 
by the will of the Church, but by his own inexcusable dis- 
sent from the terms of the covenant, he debars himself from 
its glorious privileges. When we consider, therefore, the 
propriety of this strictness on the part of the Church, as 
viewed in connection with the entirely spiritual nature of 
the Lord's supper ; and then compare the relation of cir- 
cumcision to the passover, and of baptism to the Lord's 
supper, we see precisely such a resemblance as the great 
principles of the covenant, as here indicated, must logically 
authorize. 

Each is alike a distinguishing mark of the visible Church* 
For ages, circumcision thus designated the people of God, 
and was employed as a token of covenant relationship. 
When a parent neglected to circumcise his child, that child 
was excluded from those privileges which the covenant se- 
cured to the children of his people. He could not come to 
the passover, nor be admitted to the fellowship of the an- 
cient Church. When a heathen family would seek a union 
wkh the congregation of the Lord, the same seal of the 
covenant was applied to them. Since circumcision was 
abolished, baptism has certainly been substituted in its place 
in this respect. The child of a Christian parent who is not 
baptized, cannot be admitted to the table of the Lord. The 
heathen family that would cast away the idols of their 
former worship, and join the Christian Church, must be bap- 
tized. When persons have been excluded from the Church, 
whether they were baptized in adult age, or in infancy, 
they are not to have the rite repeated on their readmission, 
after giving evidence of repentance. 

The points of resemblance already mentioned, are of 
such a nature, that if admitted as facts, they sustain incon. 



58 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



testably the position — that baptism has been substituted in 
the place of circumcision, as a seal of the Abrahamic cove- 
nant. For a still stronger confirmation of this argument, 
contemplate the points of difference. Circumcision was 
adapted to prefigure a Saviour to come ; baptism, to pro. 
fess the Saviour already incarnate. Circumcision was 
adapted to serve, for a few ages, a national and temporal 
purpose ; baptism comes in after that temporal purpose is 
accomplished, and the national partition wall is demolished- 
Baptism is even a more expressive ordinance, so far as 
spiritual purification is concerned ; expressive, indeed, of 
the same great truths which circumcision indicated, but 
expressive of them in a manner more appropriate to their 
clearer developments. Circumcision was applied only to 
one sex, while in the ordinance of baptism there is not only 
" neither Jew nor Gentile," but " neither male nor female, 
for we are all one in Christ Jesus." While, therefore, the 
points of resemblance compel us to regard the ordinance of 
baptism as the authorized seal of the covenant, in the place 
of circumcision, inasmuch as it does actually answer ail 
the original spiritual purposes of such a seal, and is divinely 
established in the Christian dispensation, the points of differ* 
ence do as truly suggest several substantial reasons why a 
change of the seal was desirable. Let me now ask the 
reflecting reader to re-examine the several positions of this, 
number, and let the individual strength of each argument, 
and the combined testimony of the whole, be admitted in 
the final settlement of this important question. 

Finally, let there be added to the foregoing considerations 
the fact, that baptism is denominated in Scripture the Chris, 
tian circumcision. " In whom also ye are circumcised with 
the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body 
of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ." — 
"Buried with him by baptism." Col. ii. 11-14. "Beware 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



59 



of the concision ; for we are the circumcision, which worship 
God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no 
confidence in the flesh." Thus, when the Jews urged the 
necessity of circumcision, the believing Gentile might reply, 
If circumcision indicated a new heart, a spiritual religion, 
that I possess ; if circumcision expressed that change an- 
ciently, my reception of Christian baptism has expressed it 
with equal, if not superior emphasis. According to the 
course of argument through which we have passed, circum- 
cision is certainly abolished ; baptism is the acknowledged 
seal of the gracious covenant for adult believers ; the seal 
of the covenant is the same for the child as for the parent ; 
therefore, as the covenant itself remains with all its privi- 
leges undiminished, it is the duty of the believing parent to 
consecrate his children to God in the ordinance of baptism. 
Since, moreover, the fact that baptism is now in the place 
of circumcision, the seal of the Abrahamic covenant, is sus- 
tained both by every point of resemblance and diversity ; it 
being manifest that it does take the place of circumcision as 
a seal of the righteousness of faith ; as having faith for its 
indispensable condition in the same way that circumcision 
had ; as a sign or token of the same spiritual change ; as a 
distinguishing mark of the visible Church; the very points 
in which circumcision itself was a seal of the covenant ; 
and finally, since it is called the circumcision of Christ, and 
answers in the new dispensation, not only all the original 
purposes of circumcision under the old, but all the more 
extensive applications of the covenant under the new dis- 
pensation, the decision appears inevitable, that baptism is 
now, in the place of circumcision, the authorized and appro- 
priate seal of the Abrahamic covenant. 

The covenant then remains : the promise of spiritual 
blessings in behalf of children is sure to every believer: the 
seal is to be applied to both parent and child ; and that seal 



60 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



is the ordinance of Christian baptism. Dear brethren in 
Christ ; how precious, how infinitely glorious is this cove- 
nant ; how delightful the duty, how invaluable the privilege. 
When you consider your influence and responsibility as 
parents ; the great and solemn object of the family rela- 
tions ; the dreadful depravity of your unrenewed offspring ; 
the gracious design of God to sanctify your pious influence 
to their eternal good ; the glorious arrangement of patri- 
archal ages in which he requires the trembling parent to 
consecrate his household to him, and gives his promise, his 
own sure word, that he will be a God to him and to his 
seed, affixing to this covenant a delightful, expressive, and 
memorable seal ; O, how thrilling is the thought ! This 
covenant ! these promises ! this indulgent God ! all are 
mine ! With what unutterable tenderness may you kneel 
at the family altar and say, Here am I and the children 
which thou hast given me ! Christian ! this covenant is 
worth more to you than worlds ! 



CHAPTER VI. 

Argument from Ecclesiastical History. Its use. Household conse- 
cration, in some form, the uninterrupted practice of the Church 
during four thousand years. Not neglected by any considerable por- 
tion until within three hundred. Consecration by baptism not 
denied by any sect during the first thousand years of Christianity : 
not commenced at any period since the apostolic age — universally 
practised in the fourth century. Its previous history establishing 
its apostolic origin. 

The manner in which we have contemplated the or- 
dinance of infant consecration, renders it, both in its spirit 
and form, independent of the testimony of the ecclesiastical 
fathers. The Bible alone is the infallible guide of Protest- 
ants. There on the firm basis of scriptural proof let it rest, 
a building on a rock. Were it manifest from ecclesiastical 
history, that the whole Church, through successive ages, 
had neglected her duty and her privilege, our astonishment 
might have been awakened, while our confidence in the per- 
petual covenant remained unshaken. Planting ourselves 
beside its pure fountains, we could call upon the recreant 
Church to repent of her sin, and partake of the waters she 
had so long undervalued. 

The argument from the history of the Church, however, 
while it is not necessary for the establishment of our prin- 
ciples, has several important uses. It is in itself an ar- 
gument distinct and overwhelming ; it illustrates and im- 
presses the conclusions to which we have already arrived, 
and it will prepare us to understand a portion of scriptural 
evidence which we have not yet examined. 

As the testimony of the fathers has been often collected 
and urged by able, candid, and pious men, the object of this 
6 



62 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION* 



chapter will be, simply to present a few grand points which 
are conclusively established* and which constitute the 
strength of the argument. 

The consecration of infants by baptism being now the 
general practice of Christendom, must have originated either 
under apostolic authority, or at some period subsequent* 
The consecration of infants, itself, can be attributed to no 
Jater period than the days of Abraham. The adoption of 
baptism as the form, if an unauthorized ordinance of man, 
must have excited attention, provoked opposition, and left 
after its prevalence palpable traces of its origin. If, on the 
other hand, it be of God, we shall find the evidence of his- 
tory, at every ascending height, still pointing upward to the 
luminous age of New Testament inspiration. 

1. The first point which arrests attention in a general 
survey of historical evidence, is — That it cannot be proved 
that the practice of infant consecration has ever ceased in the 
Church of God, since it was established in the Abrahamic 
covenant. 

This is the impression which strikes the mind very forci- 
bly, as it ponders on the path of the Church through all the 
portions of her eventful history. From the time that the 
Chaldean shepherd dedicated his household to the present 
hour, no one period, however brief, can be designated 
when we can say, then there was no infant consecration* 
Empires have fallen, and risen and fallen ; systems of na- 
tional law, code after code, which in the science of juris- 
prudence appeared as monuments of intellectual strength 
and political wisdom, have been rolled together as a scroll ; 
while the deep, unostentatious household law has continued 
like a cord extended through successive ages, and strung 
with the jewels of God. Even the changing features of the 
Church itself have preserved this feature unaltered. The 
bondage of Egypt ; the law of Sinai ; the ritual observan* 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



63 



ces ; the splendor of the temple worship ; the mournful 
captivity ; the Roman yoke ; the advent of Christ ; the 
wonders of the new age ; the dispersion of the Jews ; the 
introduction of the Gentiles into their forfeited privileges 
the pagan persecution ; the papal corruption ; the glorious 
Reformation : all have had their influence on the aspect of 
the Church ; but in this respect the great body of the Church 
has remained steadfast, that she has consecrated her off- 
spring to the Most High. A cessation of this practice for 
one season cannot be proved from the whole record of his- 
tory. There, through all changes, the altar of consecra- 
tion has stood, and successive generations have bowed with 
their gift of souls before it. How sublime is this fact when 
viewed in its moral import and bearings ! What an illus- 
tration of scriptural promises, " I will be a God to thee, and 
thy seed after thee." " And if ye be Christ's, then are ye 
Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. "Four 
thousand years proclaim with united voice, that his mercy 
endureth forever. 

2. The next impression which this survey is calculated 
to make, is — That the practice of infant consecration has 
not been neglected even by any considerable portion of the 
Church until within about three hundred years. 

We present this fact here because we wish it to be com- 
pared with the first. We think that this fact ought to be 
felt in forming our estimate of the importance of this or- 
dinance. By the above statement we express the general 
impression of ecclesiastical history. Through all its 
records we have no history of such neglect until the 
year 1522. That a higher antiquity is claimed by those 
who deny the privilege of believing parents, in this respect, 
is true. They endeavor to prove that the testimony against 
infant baptism was part of that testimony which, in the 
low valleys and in the mountain fastnesses, was borne by the 



64 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



persecuted and the faithful against the man of sin. The 
utmost, however, which can be admitted in behalf of this 
claim is, that " in the year 1120 one sect of the Waldenses 
declared against the baptism of infants, because they be- 
lieved them incapable of salvation." Their unbelief, how- 
ever, did not affect the main body of that people, and they 
who cherished it soon dwindled away. Their number and 
importance were not sufficient to render any exception 
necessary to the statement we now contemplate. In the 
year 1522, there rose a body of men, who insisted upon the 
invalidity of infant baptism, and demanded a.rebaptism of 
those consecrated in childhood. It was not strange that 
when the spirit of the Reformation was shaking the found- 
ations of superstition, many who were ignorant should not 
discriminate between the tares and the wheat, between the 
precious and the vile. The wild and extravagant notions 
which they embraced, have prevented even the respect 
of Protestants for the fathers of the Reformation from ascrib- 
ing any weight to their opinions. The history of that por- 
tion of the Church which denies baptism to infants since 
that period, in its rise to respectability and influence, does 
not belong to the survey necessary to sustain the position 
before us. 

3. Another conclusion forced upon us by a candid con- 
sideration of the historic argument is — That for the first 
thousand years of Christianity, no sect or body of men can 
be found, denying the validity of infant baptism. 

Notwithstanding all manner of heresies rose and burst 
like so many bubbles, this great and powerful arrangement 
of ancient ages was not annulled. The world has been 
challenged to produce the proof of such a class of Chris- 
tians. We may, it is thought, extend it to eleven hundred 
years, and deny that in all that period any Christians, ad- 
mitting baptism at all, have denied its validity because ap- 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



65 



plied to infants. — For fifteen hundred years, almost for ele- 
ven hundred altogether, the practice of the whole Church was 
based upon the covenant principles which we have urged upon 
the attention of Christian parents. During all these centuries, 
baptism has been used in the place of circumcision, as the 
seal of that everlasting covenant, in the practice of the uni- 
versal Church. At least we may rest assured, that there 
is no proof of any portion whatever holding to baptism at 
all, which gave to this species of unbelief any foothold dur- 
ing the first thousand years of the Christian era. Is it pos- 
sible that the whole Church have mistook in the application 
of a seal to that covenant, which God has so intimately 
connected with all her vital interests ? Again, an exami- 
nation of ecclesiastical history, convinces us, 

4. That it cannot be proved that the adoption of baptism, 
as the seal of the covenant, has commenced at any period sub. 
sequent to the days of the apostles. 

The bearing of this argument is simply this : if infant 
baptism is of human invention, there must be a period when 
it originated, subsequent to the first century. Its introduo. 
tion into the Church must have been a marked occurrence, 
must have awakened controversy. It is highly probable, 
therefore, that the researches of historians would have de- 
tected that period, and rationally accounted for its appear- 
ance. Nothing like this, however, has been accomplished. 
If it has a birthplace among human speculations, it has 
been, like the grave of Moses, screened from the scrutiny 
of men. If it is from heaven, all these facts are perfectly 
consistent. The history corresponds with the divine autho- 
rity of the ordinance, and is most rationally explained by 
the admission of its claims to be an ordinance of infinite 
wisdom. The consecration of children by baptism, then, 
cannot be proved, by any historical evidence now in posses- 
6* 



i 



66 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



sion of the world, to be of human origin. It is certain, 
that ecclesiastical history has no testimony against it. 

Combine, now, these four positions — infant consecration 
has existed for four thousand years without cessation — it 
has never been opposed by any considerable portion of the 
Church until within three hundred years ; its validity was 
not denied by any portion of the Church for the first one 
thousand years — it cannot be proved to have originated at 
any period subsequent to the apostles. Now, had we found 
that the opposition to it had always been strong, like that 
to the doctrine of the Trinity ; and the controversy always 
sharp, like that between the advocates of Augustinian theo- 
logy and their opponents ; had we found even that it had 
always been depressed and obscure, with a testimony 
scarcely audible amid the voice of ages ; had its existence 
been suspended for centuries, and even its introduction ques- 
tionable until the sixteenth century, all this frowning aspect 
of history could not banish from our sight that testimony of 
revelation which seems incorporated in the whole connection 
of Bible truth. 

What, then, should be the conclusion, when the whole 
current of history coincides with the written word ; when 
we trace, in the aspect of ages, the light of principles reflect- 
ed in glory from preceding ages ; reflected through them 
all upon us ? What but to exclaim with stronger confi- 
dence as we ponder the Abrahamic promise, Hath he said, 
and shall he not do it ? hath he spoken, and shall he not 
make it good ? The study of the argument from history 
does not terminate here : it proves, 

5. That, in the fourth century, the consecration of infants 
by baptism was universally practised, on the ground of the 
Abrahamic covenant ; was regarded as substituted for cir- 
cumcision, and as sanctioned by apostolic authority. 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



67 



In proof of this position, we shall rely on the testimony 
of four substantial witnesses, all belonging to the fourth 
century. The fourth century, it should be remembered, 
presents a period of time less than three hundred years after 
the apostles, and the witnesses were the most conspicuous 
of its fathers. Augustine, who flourished in the latter part 
of that century, is very explicit — " Which the whole body 
of the Church holds in the case of little infants, who are 
baptized, who certainly cannot believe with their heart unto 
salvation, and yet no Christian will say that they are bap- 
tized in vain." 

u The custom of our mother, the Church, in baptizing 
infants, must not be disregarded, nor accounted useless, and 
it must by all means be believed to be an order of the 
apostles." 

" It is most justly believed to be no other than a thing 
delivered by apostolic authority, that is, it came not by a 
general council, nor by any authority later or less than that 
of the apostles." 

" By the authority of the whole Church, which was 
undoubtedly delivered by our Lord and his apostles." 

These several passages, taken from the writings of 
Augustine, prove that it was universal in the Church, and 
was regarded as an apostolic ordinance. That it was an 
institution whose importance was generally realized, and 
was so strongly regarded as divine, that in controversial 
writings on other subjects it was used as a test by which 
others were to be tried. The question then stood, Is this 
new doctrine consistent with the baptism of infants ] and a 
full conviction of its inconsistency was snfficient for its 
refutation. This remark prepares the way for introducing 
the testimony of Pelagius, the contemporary and opponent 
of Augustine. He denied the doctrine of original sin, and 
was pressed hard with the argument from infant baptism. 



68 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



He repels the charge of denying that institution, in very 
earnest language : — «' Men calumniate me by charging me 
with a denial of infant baptism. I have never heard of 
any impious heretic or sectary who denied infant baptism." 
He labors to prove that his sentiments on the subject of 
original sin did not involve the denial of infant dedication, 
and that many reasons existed for the practice, aside from 
that assigned by Augustine. This appeal of both parties 
to a common institution shows how firmly it was then esta- 
blished, throughout the Church of God. Tempted, as Pela- 
gius was, to deny its authority, he was able to oppose it, if 
it could have been opposed. He had travelled extensively 
in Britain, Gaul, Italy, Africa, Egypt, and Palestine. Yet, 
with his learning and travel, he makes the affirmation above. 
He could say, " / never heard of any impious heretic or 
sectary who denied infant baptism." Thus we have two 
learned men, warm opponents, both uniting in the strongest 
kind of testimony on this subject. The testimony is given 
incidentally, not to prove or disprove infant baptism, but to 
bear on another topic. The third witness is Chrysostom. 
He was a contemporary with Augustine and Pelagius.— 
" But our circumcision, that is, the grace of baptism, gives 
us cure, without pain, and it has no determinate time as 
circumcision has." If we admit the testimony of the first 
two witnesses, we must believe that infant baptism was now 
universally practised, as an apostolic institution ; and if we 
will admit in explanation the evidence of Chrysostom, we 
shall perceive that it was considered as coming in the place 
of circumcision, and as possessing some advantages over 
the ancient form, as a seal of the everlasting and extended 
covenant. The last witness, under the present position, 
is Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, born in the year 340. He 
also calls baptism circumcision. Having mentioned the 
miracle of dividing Jordan, he says, " But perhaps this may 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



69 



seem to be fulfilled in our time and in the apostles' time." 
" For that return of the waters backward towards the head 
of the river, which was caused by Elias, when the river 
was divided, signified the mystery of the lava of salvation 
which was afterward to be instituted, by which those who 
are baptized in infancy are reformed from a wicked state 
to the primitive state of their nature." Now it is of no 
consequence to the argument what opinion we form of his 
exegetical capacity, or what objection we raise to his views 
of the efficacy of the ordinance. The present argument 
simply requires the evidence of the existence of infant bap- 
tism as an established institution of the Church, on the 
ground of the Abrahamic covenant, and claiming apostolic 
authority. The united testimony of these four witnesses 
conclusively establishes the fact. When we consider the 
nature of the Pelagian controversy, and the standing of 
the several witnesses, their evidence seems unimpeachable. 
The position which we have taken, then, is firmly supported, 
that in the fourth century, this institution, with all Us claims, 
was universally honored by the Church of God. There is 
another consideration connected with this testimony, that 
in the fourth century, i. e. within three hundred years after 
the apostles, it was impossible to trace its origin. Then 
the most learned men in the Church had never heard of its 
being rejected. Pelagius inquires, " Who can be so impi- 
ous as to hinder the baptism of infants ?" It is useless to 
say that these ancient writings were corrupted in these 
passages, for there was no temptation to interpolation. — 
There was no controversy on the subject until centuries 
afterwards, and the very manner in which it was interwoven 
in the Pelagian controversy forbids the supposition of faith- 
less records. The same and similar reasons sustain the 
credit of extracts now to be made to substantiate another 
position. 



70 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



6. It can be proved, that previous to the fourth century, 
this institution had been established so long as to render the 
supposition of its existence in the apostolic age essential to 
every rational theory of its origin. 

The witnesses to this position are Cyprian, Bishop of 
Carthage, Origen, and Tertullian. 

Two hundred and fifty years after the birth of Christ, 
one hundred and fifty after the apostolic age, a council of 
sixty-six bishops was convened at Carthage. Fidus, a 
Presbyter, believing that infants ought not to be baptized 
before eight days old, presented the subject before the 
council, and obtained this official answer : " As to the case 
of infants, whereas you judge that they must not be baptized 
within two or three days after they are born, and that the 
rule of circumcision is to be observed, that no one should be 
baptized or sanctified before the eighth day after he is born t 
we were all of a different opinion" 

One hundred and eighty-five years after Christ, eighty- 
five years after the apostolic age, Origen was born. His 
testimony is, first, t( That he himself was a baptized child." 
Second, i( That the Church received an order from the 
apostles to give baptism even to infants." Third, " That 
infants are baptized for the remission of sins." 

About one hundred and fifty years after Christ, fifty 
years after the apostolic age, Tertullian was born. He 
advised a delay of baptism, because he believed that sins 
committed after baptism were not forgiven. " The delay 
of baptism is more profitable as to little children. For 
why is it necessary that the sponsors should incur danger? 
For they may fail of their promises by death, or be disap- 
pointed by the child proving to be of a wicked disposition." 

These three witnesses present the evidence from which 
the apostolic origin of infant baptism is rationally inferred. 
The testimony of Cyprian respecting the council at Car« 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



71 



thage, implies, 1. That the practice of consecrating infants 
by baptism was an established order of the Church, unques- 
tioned and unanimously honored. 

2. That infant baptism was regarded as substituted for 
infant circumcision ; else, why the anxious question respect- 
ing the propriety of baptism previous to the eighth day ? 

3. That the baptism of infants was understood to be a 
sanctification — that is, a consecration of them to God. 

4. That the council considered the gospel dispensation, 
not only as preserving to the Gentiles all the privileges of 
the ancient covenant, but as applying them with less limi- 
tation, and with wider extent, in milder forms, and more 
glorious significancy. The same great principles which 
we proved to be established in the fourth century, we now 
see established in the third ; the very principles which have 
been involved in the whole argument of these essays.— 
This practice, founded on these principles, could not have 
arisen in a moment, if it is of human invention. Could it 
have become universally practised without opposition, if 
indeed it were an innovation ? Thus, one hundred and fifty 
years after the apostles, we behold this institution founded 
on its permanent principles. We see that the infant con- 
secration of those times was the same in object and in form 
that it now is. We rely on the testimony of Cyprian for 
the proof of its established credit, and for its definition. — 
The testimony of Origen proves, that this institution, thus 
defined, existed at least sixty-five years previous to the 
council of Carthage. The parents of Origen were pious ; 
his father a martyr, who, while imprisoned, was consoled 
by a letter from his consecrated child, exhorting him to 
steadfastness, and congratulating him on his privilege. — 
Even at a more tender age still, the zeal of that baptized 
child had to be guarded by the vigilance of a believing 
mother, lest he should rashly expose himself to martyrdom, 



72 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



If, then, that father and mother consecrated their children 
in infancy, they did it believing it their duty and their privi- 
lege. There was no temptation to expose their rising 
household in those days of persecution, any farther than 
the command of Christ required them. In the days of his 
parents, then, it was believed and practised as an institution 
of the apostles. Had there been a time known to them, 
when it was not practised in the Church, they could have 
pointed out the innovation. Origen would need, in his 
inquiries, to search no farther than his own family history. 
Tertullian's testimony proves, that one hundred years after 
the apostles the baptism of infants, on the faith of others, 
was the common practice of the Church. This strengthens 
the testimony of Origen, while the fact of Origen's own 
baptism by such parents necessarily carries the evidence 
at least fifty years nearer the apostles. The council of 
Carthage, in their decision, corroborate this train of evi- 
dence. All the five preceding positions corroborate this 
view of the subject. We are obliged, therefore, to ac- 
knowledge its existence and prevalence, within fifty years 
of the days of inspiration. 

Contemplate that period. The aged Polycarp, disciple 
of John, was alive and vigorous through all its years. So, 
also, was Justin Martyr. So, also, was Irenseus. Three 
noble guardians of purity in the second century ! Polycarp 
was martyred in 169 ; Justin Martyr in 164 ; Irenseus 
lived until after 202. If the application of baptism, then, 
to infants, as the seal of the covenant, was not of apostolic 
institution, it must have been introduced by their disciples 
and immediate successors, the apostolic fathers. If it was 
introduced by them, understanding, as they did, the mind of 
the apostles ; then we have their views of the household 
consecration. If it was not introduced by them, then there 
is only the remaining conclusion, it arose under the authori- 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



73 



ty of the apostles. In either case, the testimony of the ages 
previous to the fourth century compels us to regard it as a 
divine institution. There are, however, other considera- 
tions, sustaining the present position. In the first place, 
since Tertullian wished to have baptism delayed, why did 
he not show that such early baptism, on the faith of spon- 
sors, was an innovation ? He certainly was able to do it, if 
such had been the fact. He had only to consult with Ire- 
nseus, the disciple of Polycarp, the disciple of John, or with 
Polycarp himself, for he was contemporary with both. 
Yet no such plea is presented against it. Instead of that, 
his whole language implies that he felt himself contending 
with the common and established practice ; and his extra- 
vagant writings, together with his final separation from the 
Church, show that same unsound judgment which his rea- 
sonings themselves discover. Of Pagan descent himself, he 
was not likely to appreciate the unfeigned faith of a Chris- 
tian ancestry. 

Actuated by false views of the importance of baptism, he 
was even led to advise all persons to postpone it until the 
season of youth had passed away. The principle on which he 
dissuaded the practice of infant baptism was equally valid in 
pleading against the baptism of young persons on the pro- 
fession of their own faith. While these circumstances dimi- 
nish our confidence in his opinions, they leave us the evi- 
dence that the prevailing practice of the Church was against 
him. We have already shown that this practice was firm- 
ly rooted at an earlier age than the publication of his 
works. So that every circumstance conspires to guide us 
into the scenes of the first century for its birthplace. 

In the next place, consider that, according to the testimo- 
ny before us, we are directly assured that the Church re- 
ceived an order from the apostles to give baptism to infants. 
This was certainly the opinion of Origen. When we con- 
7 



\ 



74 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



sider that he could ascertain the truth of it in the history of 
/ his own family ; that he could ascertain it from Irenseus 
and other contemporaries ; that he had only that century 
to review, which was overshadowed by the presence of the 
apostolic fathers ; that he was remarkable for his inquisi* 
tiveness and extensive learning, it is manifest that on this 
subject he was competent to testify with assurance. That 
testimony, it seems, corresponds with the plain deductions of 
reason, as stated above. In addition to the evidence al- 
ready before us, it may be proper to remember the allu- 
sions of Irenseus, Clement, and Justin Martyr. If these are 
admitted, according to the proper rules of interpretation, 
they strengthen the conviction produced by the evidence 
just examined. It is sufficient, however, to say that, on 
the supposition that infant dedication existed then, these al- 
lusions are naturally to be understood as referring to its 
design and its form of administration. Thus Justin Mar- 
tyr speaks of those who were made disciples of Christ from 
their infancy ; Irenseus, of infants lorn again ; while Cle- 
ment evidently exhorts fishermen, in engraven images on 
seal-rings, to choose the image of an apostle baptizing infants. 
The testimony of Cyprian, Origen, and Tertullian, is suffi- 
cient to establish the fact of its prevalence in the third 
century and in the second. This being established, the 
supposition of its existence in the first century, becomes 
essential to every rational theory of its origin. 

Thus, in contemplating the evidence of ecclesiastical his- 
tory, we have collected several substantial positions, each 
of which is impressive ; and all combined constitute a mass 
of overwhelming proof. While it cannot be proved that 
the practice of infant consecration has ever ceased, in the 
Church of God, since he established it in the Abrahamic 
covenant ; while it cannot be proved that it has ever been 
neglected by any considerable portion of the Church, until 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



75 



within about three hundred years ; while it cannot be proved 
that anybody of men denied baptism to infants during the first 
thousand years of the Christian dispensation ; while it can- 
not be shown that the practice of baptizing infants has ori- 
ginated at any specific period since the apostolic age ; while, 
moreover, it is abundantly proved that, in the fourth century, 
the consecration of infants was universally practised, on 
the ground of the Abrahamic covenant, by baptism in the 
place of circumcision ; while, finally, it is manifest that, 
previous to the fourth century, the evidence of its preva- 
lence is such as to render the supposition of its existence in 
the first century essential to any rational theory of its ori- 
gin ; I see a body of evidence so harmonious, witnesses so 
trustworthy, principles so consistent, and providential illus- 
trations so accordant with divine appointments and reveal- 
ed predictions, that I feel confident in saying to every in, 
quirer, Go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock ! 

Still, let it not be forgotten, that we regard this sublime 
arrangement as resting on the unchanging word of God, 
.We rely on the sacred volume as our only infallible guide 
on this as well as on other subjects. We present these 
considerations from history, chiefly, as confirmatory of 
preceding arguments, as illustrative of principles, and, final- 
ly, as preparatory to an examination of other scriptural evi-. 
dence which we have not yet considered, 



CHAPTER VII. 



Household consecration in the apostolic age. Its prominence un- 
der the ministry of John : of Jesus Christ : of the apostles. The 
Church obligated to regard it in the same manner. 

To the portion of scriptural evidence which we are now 
to examine, the attention of believing parents is earnestly 
solicited. My object will be, to exhibit the manner in 
which the great principles of infant consecration influenced 
the feelings of the early disciples. We are prepared for 
this subject, if we have fully imbibed those principles them- 
selves, and admit the evidence by which they are incontro- 
vertibly established. The spiritual blessings connected 
with parental faithfulness, in the ancient household cove- 
nant ; the perpetuity of that covenant, and the right of be- 
lieving Gentiles to its privileges ; the substitution of bap- 
tism in the place of circumcision as its new and appropriate 
seal, have been spread before us in the decisive testimony of 
Scripture. All these, as we have seen, were understood 
and advocated by the apostles in their writings. If they 
thus understood these truths, their own feelings, plans, 
and conduct must have been powerfully affected by their 
influence. The universal practice of infant baptism in the 
first centuries, as evinced by ecclesiastical history, confirms 
this impression. It therefore seems proper to examine the 
inspired history of the first century, with the expectation of 
beholding there the dignity and grandeur of these vital 
principles of the Church, exhibited in their native simplicity 
and power. There, in the writings and conduct of the in- 
spired, and in the establishment of the new dispensation, 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



77 



the native, quiet operation of parental faith is most sweetly- 
portrayed. We cannot, of course, expect to find these 
truths stated as if in the language of controversy, for there 
the idea of controversy on this subject was unknown — but 
if we read the inspired record with the proper spirit, we 
shall perceive these principles invested with more practical 
importance than ever they have been in the more degen- 
erate — than they had been, even in the more ancient ages. 
If this be considered unusual ground, still should it be sus- 
tained ; it will strengthen that presentiment which doubt- 
less is even now awakened, that this institution is destined 
to exert a prominent agency in producing and perpetuating 
the state of millennial glory. 

1. These principles of infant consecration had a power- 
ful influence in preparing the Jewish nation for the Mes- 
siah's advent. 

The evidence of this fact is conclusive, and deeply inte- 
resting. We pass by the providential preparation which 
on this axle turned the wheel of its operations for succes- 
sive ages, and fix our minds upon that special preparatory 
work which was prosecuted under the ministry of John the 
Baptist In the close of Old Testament prophecy, he had 
been designated as the messenger who was to herald the 
Saviour's approach. It was particularly stated, he should 
turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart 
of the children to the fathers. The great and prominent 
instrumentality which he was to employ, was the powerful 
agency of family influence. The voice of one crying in 
the wilderness,The kingdom of heaven is at hand ! prepare 
ye the way of the Lord, must have wrought mightily on 
the heart of the believing parent in behalf of household edu- 
cation. As the glorious Prince of Israel was constantly 
expected, with what eagerness would the Jew endeavor to 
make ready a people prepared for the Lord — to set his house 
7* 



78 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



in order for the reception of the Son of David. Hence, at 
that joyous event, the circumcision of John, the venerable 
Zechariah dwelt with peculiar delight on " the mercy pro- 
mised to our fathers;" " on his holy covenant," and "the 
oath which he sware to our father Abraham." Such was 
the prominence given to this covenant and its provisions, 
in the consecration of John the Baptist, and in the ministry 
of preparation which he fulfilled. By operating through 
this channel, he effectually prepared great multitudes of the 
common people to believe on the Saviour's name at the 
moment his arrival was announced. 

From the predictions — the specific mission of John the 
Baptist — from the results of his mission, as manifested in 
the succeeding history of the first century, it is evident that 
the principles of infant consecration were regarded as all- 
important to the first advent of the Son of God. 

2. The mission of Christ himself, while on earth, was 
characterized by a special and continual regard to these 
principles. 

He devoted his entire course of personal labor to the 
children of the covenant. He said, even on a most affect- 
ing occasion, " I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the 
house of Israel ." He came unto his own — his consecrated 
ones — he devoted to them his miracles and his instructions ; 
from them h» selected his apostles, and to them he made 
the first offers of salvation; he proclaimed himself the, King 
of the Jews — he treated them as the privileged children of 
the Abrahamic covenant. Consecrated to God himself in 
infancy, he practically acknowledged the justice of the di- 
vine claim thus placed upon him in the commencement of 
his existence, by a personal and perfect consecration of him- 
self to the will of his Father, until his dying hour. He 
took a deep interest in the consecrated children of his friends. 
When some believing parents brought their devoted off. 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



79 



spring to him, that he should recognize them, he took them 
up in his arms and blessed them. In the very spirit of this 
ancient covenant, he exclaimed, " Suffer little children to 
come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the king, 
dom of heaven." During many ages previous, the spiritual 
kingdom, and the visible kingdom of God, had been main- 
tained chiefly, and perhaps entirely, from the action of con- 
secrated family influence on consecrated households. Of 
such, out of such, the lively stones had been taken, with 
which the building of God has thus far been erected. 

If, however, the kingdom of heaven is to be understood 
particularly of the Christian dispensation, then the perpe- 
tuity of these covenant privileges in after ages is complete- 
ly established. He saw in those consecrated children of 
believing parents the future martyrs of the first century, 
the future pillars of the Church, the Abrahams of successive 
generations. His spirit broke out in joy as he cried, " I 
thank thee, Father, that thou hast hidden these things from 
the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes : 
even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." How 
illustrious, to him, did that wisdom of God appear, by which 
" out of the mouth of babes and sucklings he had ordained 
strength, that he might still the enemy and the avenger." 
Glorious arrangement ; by which around this plain, endur- 
ing, ^universal principle of household consecration, God had 
clustered all the prospects of the Church, and all the inte- 
rests of the whole train of generations ! The testimony of 
ecclesiastical history, both inspired and uninspired, ancient 
and modern, Jewish and Christian, proclaims that there 
was meaning in the Saviour's joy— power in his condescen- 
sion ; and glory in his blessing. Not in all the history of 
ancient patriarchs, however, do we find their principles so 
recognized in a whole course of action, and so made a mat- 



80 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



ter of exulting joy, as in the life and the language of the 
Messiah. 

3. The commission which Christ gave his apostles to 
teach and baptize all nations, embraces, establishes, and espe- 
cially honors these covenant principles. 

Contemplate the circumstances. The Jewish dispensa- 
tion was now to cease ; the particular reasons for using cir- 
cumcision as the seal of the covenant, had all vanished ; 
circumcision was thenceforth to be displaced ; it had once 
pointed to a Saviour yet to come ; the preparatory dispen- 
sation of John had also closed, and with it his baptism, which 
pointed to a Saviour just about to come; a new dispensation 
of that same ancient covenant was now to be established, 
varying from all others in this, that its public rite must now 
point to a Saviour already come : like the great principle of 
the everlasting covenant itself, that sealing rite was to be 
applied, not to one nation exclusively, but to all nations ; 
not to one sex, but to both ; not in the name of Jesus alone, 
but in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; now 
more clearly revealed as the triune God ; and in that reve- 
lation clothing that same covenant of faith with augmented 
importance, because of the vast extent of its gracious pro- 
visions, and because of the transcendant efficacy of its ad- 
ministration. These were the circumstances in which the 
apostolic commission, establishing the ordinance of Christian 
baptism, was to be given. . 

What vast importance must have been connected with 
that covenant which was thus to receive a new and nobler 
seal ! How must he have remembered the promise to Abra- 
ham : In thee all the families of the earth should be blessed ! 
How must his omniscient mind have enjoyed the satisfac- 
tory sight of his numerous seed, for whom he had travailed, 
as he tore away the partition wall, and commanded th8 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



81 



blessing of Abraham to flow upon the Gentiles ! He knew 
that the Abrahamic covenant promised spiritual blessings 
to parents on behalf of their children ; that although there 
were important reasons for changing the seal, there were 
all the ancient, together with additional reasons, for retain- 
ing the covenant and confirming its promises ; foreseeing 
that the Jews would reject the gospel offer, he had deter- 
mined to bestow all the immunities of that covenant upon 
the Gentiles ; he was now about to appoint a seal in the 
place of circumcision, by which faith like that of Abraham 
would be more emphatically expressed, in the new circum- 
stances of his Church, than it could be by retaining the one 
which had served, in addition to its spiritual and original 
purpose, certain temporary and national ones : he knew 
that whatever the seal might be, the same had always been 
used in the consecration of children, which was used in the 
consecration of parents : all this he knew, for all this he 
has fully revealed in his own word. Knowing all this, he 
yet appointed baptism, in view of fulfilling these promises 
until the end of the world ; he neither commanded, autho- 
rized, or permitted any limitations of the ancient privileges ; 
and appointing it in this manner, and with this knowledge, 
he must have intended the application of baptism as the 
new seal of the ancient, confirmed, and extended covenant, 
to believers and their households. 

He knew, moreover, that the apostles were all conse- 
crated children of the covenant ; that they, as Jews, highly 
valued their descent from Abraham ; that even they did not 
fully understand then the design to bestow the gospel — or, 
in other words, the spiritual blessings of the Abrahamic 
covenant — on the Gentiles ; that, for a while, therefore, 
thus understanding the gospel, they would confine their 
ministrations to the Jews ; that ultimately, however, they 



82 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



would understand that believers of all nations were the 
seed of Abraham, and heirs according to the promise ; and 
that under their labors, the Gentiles as well as the Jews 
would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith ; he 
therefore must have intended the apostles to understand 
him as commanding them to apply that rite which they 
knew to be the seal of the covenant to believers and their 
households ; and that ultimately they should thus apply it 
both to the Jews and the Gentiles. If, therefore, he had 
wished infants, under the new dispensation, to be denied 
baptism, and parents, under the new dispensation, to be 
deprived of their ancient privileges, he would have expli- 
citly stated this in the commission itself. No such thing 
is stated. On the other hand, we know that the apostles 
did understand him as confirming all these privileges to 
parents, among all nations, because they have fully taught 
this in their epistles to the Churches. We know that they 
must thus have understood him, from all their habitual 
views of the household relations. 

How sublime is this view of the Saviour. Having 
completed the great atonement — having abolished the whole 
superstructure of the exclusive dispensation, he took the 
great fundamental principles of household consecration ; 
the heavenly blessings of the everlasting covenant ; the 
promises of grace which had been spread like a canopy 
over a thousand generations, and wrought them all into the 
new dispensation. He commanded his ministers to seal 
them upon the company of believers in all nations and 
through all ages ; and promised to be with them in the 
majesty of his mediatorial throne until the end of the world. 
The unvarying practice of the Church for the first thousand 
years, the general practice for eighteen hundred, is thus fully 
explained by the command to baptize, as given to apostles 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



83 



who cherished these covenant views, by him who on earth 
sanctioned them by his example, and who in heaven has 
gloriously honored them by the outpouring of his Spirit. 

4. These principles were especially sanctioned by the 
manner in which the apostles preached the gospel. 

They preached thus at the day of Pentecost. '* Then 
Peter said unto them, Repent and be baptised, every one of 
you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, 
and ye shall receive the Holy Ghost. For the promise is 
unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, 
even as many as the Lord our God shall call." The 
Saviour had made the atonement, ascended on high, esta- 
blished the Ghristian dispensation, and now the apostles 
stood forth to preach the gospel in all the fulness of its 
mercy to a dying world. They held up to the view of all 
the ancient covenant promise— the promise to parents and 
their children—the promise of the Spirit. They expected 
that if the Jews then embraced the gospel, the influences of 
the Spirit would be poured down like rain upon their house- 
holds. They feared not to urge them> by all the value and 
efficacy of this promise, to comply with the conditions which 
secured their own salvation and that of their children. — 
When they retired from the crowded assembly, they preach- 
ed in 1he same manner to the private family. When the 
trembling jailer fell down before them, inquiring about his 
soul, they said, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
thou slialt be saved and thy house." They expected that if 
he believed, and consecrated his household to God, God 
would bless and save his children* In the same manner, 
Cornelius was informed that the apostle for whom he was 
directed to send, would tell him " words whereby he and 
all his house should be saved." They believed the divine 
promise, and preached it in all its simplicity and freeness. 
They seemed to rejoice in tha fact that the new dispensation 



84 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



was distinguished by the power of God ; and they used the 
great principles of consecration, as if here they might be 
applied in a manner more glorious and efficient. They did 
not teach that either parents or children could be saved 
without believing ; but they did teach that God would pour 
his Spirit on their seed, and his blessing on their offspring. 
According to the truth of the everlasting covenant, they 
expected that the faith of the parent would produce prayer 
and labor for the conversion of the children ; that such 
prayer and labor would be successful, because that faith 
made them heirs of the promise, " I will be a God to thee 
and thy seed after thee." They gloried in the prospect of 
establishing over the whole world this spiritual and per- 
petual covenant, of extending its privileges to all the fami- 
lies of the earth, and thus providing the system of influences 
requisite to perpetuate the universal triumph of the gospel. 
We have reason to believe that in the first churches, these 
anticipations of .the apostles were gloriously realized, and 
that if the principles of infant consecration had been trusted, 
and employed in successive ages, as they were in apostolic 
times, the gospel would have been, long ere this, the reli- 
gion of mankind — perpetual in its ascendancy, and hea- 
venly in its operation. But when the Church began to 
degenerate, although the principle was maintained, and the 
form was disproportionately esteemed, the living faith and 
enlarged expectations of the earliest believers were com- 
paratively disregarded. 

4. The influence of these principles, in the first centuries, 
is strikingly evinced by the fact, that when parents believed, 
they immediately consecrated their households to God, 

On this subject we are not left to inference only : although 
from all the facts before us, such an inference would be una- 
voidable, because otherwise we could not explain the testi- 
mony of ecclesiastical history ; and chiefly, because in this 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 85 

way alone the apostles could act consistently with their own 
established and avowed principles. We should expect them 
to be in their practice consistent with their sentiments and 
their preaching. We should conclude they were, even if 
no positive record existed in reference to their practice. 
The narrative, however, is not silent — it does speak — and 
so far as it testifies, it proves that in every case when the 
conversion and baptism of parents are particularly mention- 
edj the consecration of their households by baptism is men- 
tioned also. The trembling j tiler, as soon as he heard 
the terms, embraced them and was baptized, he and all 
his straightway. If, as some suppose, all his household 
believed, the force of the principle would not thus be aba- 
ted. This fact would corroborate the statement already 
made, that the apostles expected the conversion of house- 
holds to follow the conversion of the parents, because they 
relied with unwavering faith on the meaning of the Abra- 
hamic promise. This was the only promise which would 
warrant such an expectation ; and this did warrant them to 
invite parents to believe in Christ, in view of the salvation 
which they would thus secure to themselves and their house- 
hold. If, however, there were children too young to be 
baptized, on the profession of their own faith, that same 
promise would require them to be consecrated on the faith 
of their parents. The language of this passage speaks of 
the jailer's baptism as following his own faith ; while it 
clearly implies that their baptism followed in consequence 
of their relation to him. This leaves us the conclusion, that 
his household consisted of those who were of nonage, and 
who in their baptism were consecrated to God on the faith 
of the jailer. The record of the con version of Lydia, whose 
heart the Lord opened, is another confirmation of the pre- 
sent position — " and when she was baptized and' her house' 
hold" — the baptism of her household seems to be mentioned 

8 



86 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION* 



as a matter of course, after her own ; and yet while hef 
heart is especially mentioned as opened, not a word is said 
respecting the faith of her household. Even had the faith 
been mentioned, it still would appear as the immediate ful- 
filment of the covenant promises ; while, according to the 
present mode of narration, the impression is, that she con* 
secrated her househol \ immediately to God by baptism, in 
full reliance on the provisions of that covenant. The man- 
ner in which the baptism of the household of Stephanas is 
mentioned, conveys the same impression. Since, therefore, 
whenever the conversion and baptism of heads of families are 
recorded, the baptism of their families is also recorded, 
while their conversion is not ; since, moreover, it is mani- 
fest that the household dedication occurred in consequence 
of the faith of the parents ; since in this fact we see the 
direct application of those views which the apostles always 
avowed ; since, finally, we believe the apostles consistent 
in their views and practices, we are at once presented with 
the general custom of the Churches under their ministration. 
It seems, that so clearly was the promise presented, and so 
joyfully was it received, that believing parents hastened to 
devote their children to the triune God, in the same form in 
which they had devoted themselves forever. 

6. The manner in which the covenant relation of chiU 
dren was regarded, in apostolic days, is manifest from the 
manner in which tlie consecrated households of believers were 
treated. 

The first thought is, that they must have sought, and 
generally witnessed, the piety of their offspring in very 
early life. There is nothing said of the conversion of the 
children of believers after their arrival at adult age. So 
far as we can gather, the conversion of the households ra- 
pidly followed the conversion of the parents. If it was cus- 
tomary to see the conversion of children delayed until many 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 87 

years had rolled away, it is probable that, in the writings 
of the apostles and evangelists, we should find some notice 
of such conversions ; some admonitions in view of such de- 
lay, and some allusions to the great change thus wrought 
in believing families. Instead of this, we find parents di- 
rected to educate their children in the nurture and admoni- 
tion of the Lord ; we find children commanded to obey their 
parents in all things ; we find the animating promises of 
the covenant reiterated in the instructions of the Holy 
Ghost, and accomplished in his operations. Another re- 
flection is, that children of believing parents are no where 
mentioned as subjects of baptism after they have become 
adults. No account can be found of the baptism of a child 
of Christian parents, unless it is found in the cases of house- 
hold baptism, where the baptism was administered in con- 
sequence of the faith of the parents. If now we consider, 
that the children of believers were immediately consecrated 
to Christ, and that the Spirit of grace early descended upon 
them, in answer to the prayers of their parents and of the 
whole Church ; so that they generally had an experimental 
knowledge of the gospel, and appeared " sober and steady," 
serious and consistent in their deportment ; of course, there 
would be no record either of conversions or baptism in after 
years. This is precisely the state of the case, as a sober 
estimate of the New Testament record would give it. 

This is the state in which the Church ought to be, not 
only having all the baptisms of her children in infancy, but 
all their sanctification, early beginning, then growing with 
their growth and strengthening with their strength. This is 
the state in which the Church will be when " all shall know 
the Lord, from the least unto the greatest." Then all her 
children shall be taught of the Lord, and great shall be the 
peace of her children. A still more impressive considera- 
tion is, that so important was the relation regarded, that 



88 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



even where only one of the parents was a believer, the chil- 
dren were accounted holy — " Else were your children wn- 
clean, but now are they holy." The apostle proves the va- 
lidity of the marriage, although one of the parties remained 
an unbeliever, perhaps a base idolater, by the fact, that the 
children, in consequence of their relation to the believer f 
were considered and treated as holy. The holiness here 
predicated of the children is relative. The words unclean 
and holy are used in reference to religious observances. 
That was unclean, in an ancient Jewish usage, which was 
not fit to be offered to God. That was holy which was 
consecrated to his service. Hence the Sabbath, the 
feast days, the temple, its vessels ; the priests, their vest- 
ments ; and the circumcised children, were all denominated 
holy. This was the customary language of the nation and 
of the Church for ages. When, therefore, the children of 
a believer are called holy, we understand that they are 
either actually consecrated to God, or are proper subjects 
of religious consecration. The very manner in which in- 
fant dedication is alluded to in this passage indicates how 
universally it was practised, and how highly it was esteem- 
ed among the apostolic Churches. The children, then, of 
the Church are to be regarded with peculiar attention in 
her prayers and instructions. By the providence of God 
they are cast, in their helplessness, upon her bosom ; by 
the command of God, they are claimed for his own, and 
enstamped with the seal of his covenant. The Church, there- 
fore, is under solemn obligations to acknowledge the claim, 
by obeying the command ; and the parent who refuses will 
be responsible to God in that clay when God shall judge 
between the parent and the child. If this subject is in it- 
self, and in its scriptural representations, so important, every 
parent should give it a deep, and prayerful, and faithful 
consideration. 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



89 



It is time for the whole Church to awake. A trust in* 
estimable in its value is committed to her faith, But her 
slumber is appalling. When will she feel this theme in all 
its thrilling influence 1 When will she prepare herself for 
the millennial glory ? When will she go back, or rather as, 
cend to the standard of apostolic ages? In the commence- 
ment of this chapter it was said, that in the first century the 
principles of household consecration were more highly ap* 
predated than at any other period, before or since. Is not 
( the position substantiated ? How were they honored in the 
preparation for Messiah's advent J In the whole course of 
his ministry ! In the fulness and extent of the apostolic com- 
mission ! In the freeness and exuberant riches of gospel 
proposals as apostles preached them ! In the immediate 
consecration of Christian households to the triune God j 
In the whole manner of treatment which the baptized chil- 
dren of the first century received from parents and apostles, 
from the Churches and Saviour \ On what period of time 
can we fasten, in the whole range of ecclesiastical memory, 
so highly distinguished for the spiritual power and gran^ 
deurofthis institution, as were the purest and earliest years 
of Christianity ? 

What spirit-stirring motives evolve from the body of 
evidence which is now before us ? We have seen the foun, 
dation of this institution laid in the great principles of God's 
eternal government, and of the family constitution ; we 
have seen its principles characterizing the divine procedures 
until the time of Abraham ; and its enthronement signalized 
by the stipulations of the covenant, and the appointment of 
an external form of consecration ; we have seen in its con, 
finement to the Jews, and in its power of preserving the 
Jewish Church until Shiloh came, one long successful expe* 
riment of its energy ; we have seen the incontrovertible 
evidence of that covenant's perpetual nature $ of its exten* 
8* 



90 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



sion, with all its spiritual blessings enhanced, over the 
Gentile world ; we have seen the title of believing Gentiles 
to its promises incontestably established ; we have listened 
to its assurances of mercy to believers in behalf of their 
children ; we have felt that while the ancient seal was abo- 
lished, a more appropriate, significant and universal one 
was wisely established in the form of baptism. We have 
seen the whole testimony of ecclesiastical history ascribing 
this change of the seal to the days of the apostles ; we have 
seen in the records, the inspired and infallible records, of 
those days, evidence that then this institution flourished with 
universal honor, uncorrupted purity, and transcendant pow- 
er ! In view of this overwhelming mass of proof, we there- 
fore call upon the Church : " Be not faithless, but believ- 
ing." An institution thus distinguished, thus established, 
thus interwoven with all the vital interests of religion dur- 
ing four thousand years, is worthy of our entire, increasing, 
and unceasing confidence. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Utility of household consecration. The state of mind essential to its ac- 
ceptable performance. The distinct and solemn pledge. Its actual 
bearing on parental duties. 

If God has ordained the practice of infant consecration, 
it is presumptuous to question its utility. Even if we could 
not at once prove its utility, from its inherent adaptation) 
or its practical results, we should be bound to maintain it 
faithfully, and prize it highly. Genuine faith in God 
shrinks not from obedience, even when his command is 
dark and mysterious. Here, however, is no dark and mys- 
terious command. The obedience of faith would leave 
the parent even to sacrifice his son, his only son ; his son of 
promise and of love, if God required it. Here, however, 
no sacrifice is demanded. 

Our belief in the importance of this institution does not 
depend simply on its divine authority. In its very nature 
and bearing, there is abundant evidence of its salutary in- 
fluence. In the living facts of its history, and the won- 
drous sanctions of the Spirit, there is demonstration strong 
of its honorable connection with the divine economy. 
Whether we contemplate its impressive agency on the 
parent, on the child, on the Church, on the world, we are 
constrained to believe that, considering simply its practical 
tendencies, the Christian Church has not another ceremony 
of equal value. 

The reader is requested to bear in mind that I speak of 
infant dedication as it has been defined and defended in the 
-preceding chapters. I shall not undertake to prove the uti- 
lity of a spurious consecration. I reject alike that which, 



92 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECB A.TION. 



having the form, denies the power, and 1hat which, confi- 
dent of the power, contemns the form. If there be infant 
consecration to false gods, or to an imaginary god, or even 
to the true God, with a false heart, it is no part of mine to 
eulogize its practical operation. The argument of these 
chapters is not responsible for the infant dedication of a cor- 
rupted Christianity in any land, family, circumstances, or 
generation. 

The infant consecration here solemnly urged, is that 
which the " father of us all" first practised, and which 
the Saviour himself modified for all nations, and con- 
firmed for all ages. I shall therefore attempt to show in 
what manner the ordinance of infant consecration produces 
the parental faithfulness, and in what manner God blesses 
that faithfulness in remembrance of his holy covenant. 
Thus it will appear that through this institution a stream of 
beneficial influence is conveyed, that makes glad the city 
of our God. 

1. The utility of household consecration is inferred 
from the state of the mind essentical to its most acceptable 
performance. The parents are supposed to be true believ- 
ers, they regard the terms of the covenant as just, its pro- 
mises as infinitely precious, and its appointed seal as a sig- 
nificant token of his gracious design, and of their confiding 
love. They regard the special promise of persevering 
grace to them, as giving them a strong foundation, for 
prosecuting their holy plans in their household. They re- 
gard the conditional promise of grace for their offspring, as 
affording them a full opportunity for trying the strength of 
vigorous, household faith. They see that it opens to their 
access inexhaustible stores of grace. Promise rises upon 
promise, prize upon prize. One apartment of mercy 
opens into another. The angel of the covenant throws 
wide its portals, and beckons them still to advance. The 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



93 



continuance of God's Church in their household : the sal- 
vation of each individual member : the needful temporal 
welfare : the high attainments of holiness : the distin- 
guished usefulness of their children : the surpassing de- 
grees of celestial glory : and all these not for one genera- 
tion, but by the extension of the vital principle of conse- 
cration, for a thousand. These are the promises of the 
covenant, in their glorious gradation ; and the pathway of 
ascent from the lowest to the highest, is open to the aspir- 
ings of parental faith ! 

He regards the sacred seal, as implying an entire con- 
secration of himself and his household to these lofty pro- 
mises and purposes of the covenant. He is admonished 
that this relation is gained only through faith, is maintain- 
ed only through faith. The example of the unbelieving 
Jew is before him. The danger, the guilt, the consequen- 
ces of covenant violations, of parental unfaithfulness, are 
all before him in the history of the Church, and the records 
of the covenant. Suppose the parent to ponder these things 
deeply in his heart ; then let him come to the altar of con- 
secration, with that state of mind which all these considera- 
tions produce and sanction. I appeal to philosophy, to 
common sense, to experience, when I say that a powerful 
parental influence must be secured by that state of mind 
here supposed. The value of the child ; its depravity ; 
its exposure ; its need of regeneration ; the great principle 
of the divine government in its dealings with parents ; the 
development of that principle in the Abrahamic covenant ; 
the solemen earnestness and fulness of that promise ; the 
privileges conferred by the gospel on the Gentiles ; the ne- 
cessity of self-examination ; of genuine faith ; of an entire 
surrender of the young immortal ; the conviction of personal 
parental responsibility combined with a sense of personal 
insufficiency, and with the strength of parental affection— • 



94 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



all these, pressing on the soul, must render the scene of bap- 
tism, to the spiritual parent, intensely impressive and over- 
whelming. If ever strong resolves of parental faithfulness 
can be formed, they could be formed then. If ever the 
soul of man braces herself for high and noble efforts, it is 
just when all the arguments of fear, with all the animation 
of hope,'blend their strength in one impulse, and urge her 
on to one specific movement. To deny the practical ener- 
gy of such consecration, would be to reason against all the 
laws of mind, and all the principles of sound philosophy. 

2. The utility of this ordinance is evident from the fact, 
that the act of consecration involves, on the part of the pa* 
rents, a distinct and solemn pledge to educate the child far 
Jehovah* 

The reasons why such a pledge might wisely be re- 
quired were stated in the first two chapters. Several fun- 
damental reasons, not for believing in infant baptism, but 
for the institution of infant consecration, were then stated. 
It is reasonable that, if moral influence is in itself so power- 
ful, and in its family relations so energetic ; if depravity is 
entire and universal, and if God designs to bestow the in- 
fluences of his grace in connection with parental faithful- 
ness, a distinct and solemn pledge should be required of 
parents to consecrate their whole parental influence to the 
Lord. Such a pledge is required and given in the ordinance 
of infant dedication. The parent there acknowledges the 
absolute right of God to his child ; the capacity of his child 
for moral government ; the force and abiding reality of pa- 
rental obligation ; his own dependence on the atoning and 
regenerating grace of God ; and in view of all the invisible 
relations connected with the spiritual nature and destiny of 
his offspring, he gives the pledge that he will faithfully in, 
struct, guide, restrain, and educate, intellectually and mo* 
rally, that immortal spirit for heaven, It is given at the 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



95 



family altar ; it is given in the house of God ; it is inscribed 
on every parental and every Christian memorial ; it is given 
in presence of his household — of the Church, of the world, 
of ministering angels, and a covenant-keeping God. It is 
given in a state of mind most calculated, of all others, to 
insure it a power, a meaning, and a spiritual energy. It is 
useless to say, that the parent will discharge his duties as 
well without giving a pledge as with. We do not reason 
thus on any other subject. The merchant does not reason 
thus in his business. God has not reasoned thus in the mar- 
riage institution, nor in requiring his followers to pledge 
themselves by a public profession to be faithful. Our fa* 
thers did not reason thus in signing the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. Nations have not reasoned thus in crowning 
their monarchs. Among all nations, and in all institutions, 
human and divine* when great interests are at stake, the 
pledge, the sacred, inviolable pledge, has been required, 
both by the dictates of human nature, of reason, and reli* 
gion. It is folly thus to argue against all the current of 
human experience, and against all the principles of human 
practice. 

To disprove the utility of a pledge in these circum- 
stances, it is essential to prove that the interest at stake is 
of small moment ; that the common practice of all mankind 
is useless ; or that a pledge, in these circumstances, will 
not have the same tendency as in others. The opposite of 
each of these is self-evident, and the demonstration is mo- 
rally invulnerable, that if a pledge is important any where, 
it is here. If it is rational any where, it is here. If it 
is 'powerful any where, it must be peculiarly powerful 
here. The souls of a household ! entrusted to the mo» 
ral culture of two frail, trembling, and imperfect be- 
ings ! Where is the parental heart 1 where the heart of 
faith, or mercy, or compassion, which would not wish to 



96 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



have secured to those souls, as strongly as possible, those 
means and influences on which their eternal welfare de- 
pends ? Who can fail to see how well the ordinance of 
infant consecration is adapted to give this security ? 

3. The utility of infant baptism is manifest from its ac- 
tual bearing on the performance of parental duties. 

The parents retire from the sanctuary to the household 
hearth. There they bow at the family altar. They plead for 
the soul which they have given to God. They reiterate 
their vows, and commend their child to the Spirit of the 
covenant. Can they do less, if they act according to their 
strongest feelings and solemn promises ? Where has family 
worship been most faithfully maintained ? Unquestionably, 
where the household dedication advocated in these chapters 
has been most faithfully performed. I appeal to Scotland, 
to England, to the United States, as compared with other 
countries. I appeal to the history of those Churches which 
have most clearly understood these principles and most 
highly proved them. The maintenance of family worship 
is regarded as a sacred, indispensable duty, generally if not 
universally, in those Churches where family consecration 
is rightly practised. As a convincing illustration of this ? 
we need but present, as a specimen of a whole class, the 
household worship of New-England. It is unnecessary to 
extend the comparison minutely, through different denomi- 
nations, yet let the inquiry be prosecuted ever so exten- 
sively, the same principle would gather continual confirma- 
tion. It is painful to present the other side of the picture. 
An aged godly minister once said, when addressing a Church, 
who, like himself, rejected infant dedication, u lam acquaint' 
ed with the state of our Churches in all this region, and there 
are but few members who maintain family worship." This 
assertion could never be made respecting families who prac- 
tise infant consecration on the principles here professed. 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



97 



What glowing interest must these principles awaken in the 
bosom of the family circle ! 

" The saint, the father, and the husband prays." They 
not only preserve family worship, but they purify, inspire, 
and ennoble it. 

If the parents are prompted to maintain family worship* 
in consequence of their covenant faith and engagements, 
they will, in the same manner, be influenced to diligence in 
family instruction. They will draw around them the con- 
secrated group. The father, when he sitteth down, and 
when he riseth up, when he goeth out, and when he cometh 
in, in the house, and by the way. The mother in the closet 
and in the nursery, each in their respective stations ; both 
at their united domestic fireside. They will instruct them. 
Such is the inference forced upon us, for according as 
family worship is neglected or honored, so will it generally 
be with religious instruction. The facts correspond with 
the inference. The catechetical instruction ; the strict 
household regulations ; the stern doctrinal and moral prin- 
ciples, instilled even with proverbial diligence by our an- 
cestors ; the Sabbath school instruction ; the maternal asso- 
ciation, the simplified religious reading in modern times, all 
bear witness to the truth of these statements, and have 
chiefly originated among those who baptize their children, 
and have been mainly propelled by the zeal which the 
coals from this altar have enkindled. It is true that 
much is now done where the ordinance of infant dedi- 
cation is not practised ; that an increasing interest is now 
felt, there is no doubt ; other truths and principles have 
operated, in a measure, to stimulate ; and more especially 
the presence and example of infant consecration in the same 
neighborhoods has counteracted the tendency of neglect in 
many families. Yet the inspiring, moving spring of this 
9 



98 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



unusual interest is manifestly the spirit of household dedi- 
cation. 

For the same reasons'that family worship and instruction 
are nourished by this influence, will intellectual education 
be promoted. The parents feel that the minds for whose 
moral culture God has adapted such a special system of 
provision, ought to receive the best possible intellectual cul- 
tivation. Hence the principles of infant consecration have 
always tended to promote the general education of youth. 
Again I mention Scotland, England, the United States, and 
especially New-England. To mention these countries, 
especially the last, is sufficient. Their common schools ; 
their educated ministry; their literary and scientific insti- 
tutions ; their numerous publications, in volumes and peri- 
odicals, and their general intelligence, are known and ho- 
nored of all men. 

The parents who are influenced as described above will 
train up their households to sanctify the Sabbath, 

The mind imbued with the reasonings which establish 
the divine authority of infant baptism, will feel the beauty 
and force of that which sustains the divine authority of the 
Christian Sabbath. On the other hand, those who have 
taught the abolition of the Abrahamic covenant, have ex- 
tensively advocated the abrogation of the fourth command- 
ment. The heart which prizes most highly the covenant 
of consecration, will naturally feel most deeply the value 
of the Lord's sacred day. The same manner of investi- 
gation, adopted under the other specifications, will equally 
illustrate the correspondence of the history with the logical 
deductions. 

If these things are so ; if family worship and instruc- 
tion, if the benign influences of liberal education, and the 
auspicious energies of the Christian Sabbath, are promoted, 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



99 



preserved, and elevated, through the influence of household 
consecration, can any man question its manifest and its sur- 
passing utility ? If, moreover, its living truths, its solemn 
pledge, and its actual bearing on the performance of parental 
duties, are so conspicuous, how salutary must be its influence 
on the formation of 'parental character. The constant exer- 
cise of such Abrahamic faith, of such patriarchal solicitude, 
of such strong, deep, and prevailing prayer, as the fulfil- 
ment of the pledge, the development of these principles, and 
the performance of these duties demand, must tend to form 
a lovely, steadfast, and consistent character. How sweetly 
must it combine warmth of affection with vigor of intellect, 
and domestic cheerfulness with holiness of conversation, 
It is " as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that de- 
scended on the mountains of Zion ; for there the Lord com* 
manded the blessing, even life for evermore." 



CHAPTER IX. 



Utility of household consecration continued. Its influence on consecra- 
ted children. Examples — its connection with prevailing prayer. Ex- 
amples—the early conversion of children. 

Having considered in what manner the ordinance of 
infant consecration produces parental faithfulness, we shall 
proceed to inquire in what manner God Messes that faith- 
fulness, in remembrance of his holy covenant. Hence we 
remark, 

4. That the utility of this ordinance is manifest, from 
the restraining moral influence which it exerts upon the minds 
of consecrated children while impenitent. 

A pious lady, being solicited by her daughters for per- 
mission to attend a ball, replied, My dear children, in your 
infancy I consecrated you to the Saviour ; how then can I 
give my consent to your request 1 — I have dedicated you to 
him forever — do you wish to break away from that dedi- 
cation 1 Will you not rather yourselves now consent to 
that precious covenant 1 They paused, considered, assent- 
ed to her decision, and rejoiced that they had a mother who 
was steadfast to her baptismal engagements, 

A young lad, over whose infancy a dying mother 
breathed her prayer of faith, and over whose earliest years 
the watchfulness of that mother's parents and sisters exer- 
cised the care of holy affection, was once strongly tempted, 
when at play with his shoolmates, to take the name of his 
covenant God in vain. So powerful was the temptation, 
that he even resolved to venture his first oath. The word 
was forming on his lips, when the thought of his infant de- 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



101 



dication rushed to mind ! How can I profane that sacred 
name which has been sealed upon me by the command of 
divine mercy, and the faith of parental love ? That oath 
was never uttered — and that child, in all future temptation, 
was preserved from the sin of profaneness. 

An intelligent gentleman, not himself a professor, says 
that he should infer from his own experience, that this or- 
dinance is more valuable for its practical tendencies, than 
any other in the Christian Church. The thought of his 
own infant baptism had powerfully restrained him amidst 
the temptations of life, and preserved his character from vice 
and immorality. To these examples multitudes might be 
added, showing in what manner the finger of God, through 
this institution, often touches the impenitent heart. — The 
public morals of those communities where this ordinance is 
practised in its spiritual import, afford an appropriate illus- 
tration of its restraining influence. 

5. The utility is evinced from the manner in which God 
answers the prayers of his people while directly pleading the 
covenant promises. 

It was the privilege of the writer to attend a protracted 
meeting in one of our loveliest villages, which was charac- 
terized with thrilling exhibitions of the power of the cove- 
nant. A brother in the ministry, whose mind had been 
long awake to the importance of this subject, being grieved 
at the lifeless aspect of a very large Church, had almost re- 
solved to abandon the scene of labor. He inquired of the 
pastor if there were many baptized youth in his congrega- 
tion who were unconverted. Yes, said he, there are very 
many. Then I will stay. This subject of infant dedication 
was immediately presented before the congregation. The 
baptismal vows of believing parents, and the consequent 
guilt of their stupidity in such a season, were urged with 
holy fervor. The fountain was unsealed — the waters of 
repentance flowed — parents pressed forward with their 



102 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



children, to renew their vows, and' supplicate forgiveness 
for themselves, and salvation for their offspring— baptized 
children whose parents were not present were invited, and 
came trembling forward to solicit the prayers of the Church 
— parents baptized in infancy, but unconverted, and by 
their unbelief cutting off themselves and their children from 
the covenant blessing, came with weeping also — and, while 
united hearts plead the glorious promises of the Abrahamic 
covenant, the Spirit of the Lord came down like rain upon 
the mown grass, and from that moment the work progress- 
ed until many souls were added to the Lord. Similar ex- 
hibitions have often been witnessed in scenes of revival. 
And were inquiry to be strictly made into the more secret 
springs of influence, it would often be found that the win- 
dows of heaven were opened by some strong grasp of the 
covenant. 

In the ordinary circumstances of the Church, and in the 
spiritual history of individuals, the connection of household 
promise with prevailing prayer, is abundantly exhibited. 
A lawyer, while visiting the place where the work of God 
was progressing, was awakened to a sense of his guilt and 
danger, and sought the prayers of Christians. The little 
prayer meeting) was nearly closing, and he still refused to 
surrender. " He is a baptized child," it was said. The 
prayer was renewed — the covenat promise urged at the 
throne of grace, and he rose up rejoicing in the Lord. A 
believing wife states, that she distinctly remembers the hour 
when her husband (now occupying a sphere of distinguish- 
ed usefulness in the Church) was delivered from the bon- 
dage of sin while prayer was made unto God for him, on 
the ground of the Abrahamic covenant. Instances of a 
similar character might be recounted till they should fill the 
pages of a volume. And in this age of revivals, it is the 
solemn duty of the Church to make known these wonders 
of grace. 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



6. The utility of infant consecration is most appropri- 
ately exhibited by its bearing on the early conversion of 
children. 

It presents this subject in its true aspect before the 
Church. It proclaims their need of regeneration ; it points 
to the atonement as their only hope, and to the Spirit of God 
as the almighty agent. It encourages them to plead for 
its speedy renovation. Should the parent who believes in 
the ability and willingness of God to regenerate the infant, 
when he is about to translate him to another world, exer- 
cise the same faith in God in reference to the continuance 
of his life on earth ; should he seek, not merely that the 
infant may be saved, but that he may glorify God in his 
whole earthly existence, and therefore plead for his early 
conversion with that intense earnestness which sometimes 
wrestles with God at the dying bed of some hardened and 
abandoned child of the covenant, this would be acting accord- 
ing to the spirit of the ordinance. In whatever degree 
parental faithfulness has thus taken hold of the covenant, 
the blessing of God has been accordingly granted. The 
mother of Samuel acted thus when she consecrated him to 
God, and multitudes of parents in ages since have rejoiced 
in the same covenant promise fulfilled in early childhood. 
In proof of this, the names of many distinguished divines 
and holy men, in all ages, might be adduced. This sub- 
ject is now happily growing in importance, and there have 
recently been many examples of the conversion of house- 
holds, especially in connection with prayer, which has 
plead the Abrahamie promise. A clergyman states, that 
after a season of special prayer with God for his consecra- 
ted little ones, he obtained delightful evidence that they 
had given their hearts to God. The great subject which 
filled his thoughts, and his wrestling prayers, was the glory 
of God as connected with the household covenant. There 



104 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



should be, indeed, great faithfulness in deciding on the evi- 
dence presented, but the parental mind, rightly affected by 
these views, will rather expect daily to behold such evidence 
than be surprised at its occurrence. It should be remem- 
bered, that the grand object is not simply their conversion, 
it is that they may be holy in all their life ; that they may 
honor the gospel by their whole course of action ; that they 
may be trained for the service of Christ as faithful soldiers 
that God may be glorified, in the highest possible degree, 
through the family constitution. To this their conversion 
is subordinate and essential. Until the parent can be satis- 
fied of the conversion, he cannot be assured of the higher 
and grander object. — Therefore, he should give him no 
rest until the reign of grace is manifestly established 
throughout the household. The increase of this spirit is 
one of the brightest harbingers of millennial glory. It is in- 
describably important as connected with the efforts now 
made to instruct the rising generation. While we are 
pouring light upon their tender age, with what intense fer- 
vor should we beseech the genial influences of grace. It 
is true that most affecting instances might be mentioned of 
the power of infant consecration, to affect the mind of har- 
dened and abandoned sinners, when all other means have 
failed ; and the grace of God in these marvellous outgoings 
of its healing virtue, deserves our loudest praise ; yet the 
primary and regular operation of this gracious economy 
is in its own legitimate and direct bearing on the early re- 
generation of children. O, when will Zion understand the 
depth, the sweetness, the purity of her own ancient and 
everlasting fountains. 

On the whole, there are several considerations connected 
with this subject which may well astonish us. It is aston- 
ishing that the Church has not appreciated these wonderful 
privileges more justly. It is astonishing that notwithstand- 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



105 



ing her criminal unfaithfulness, the covenant promises have 
been fulfilled so manifestly. It is, finally, astonishing, that 
any should be disposed, after such demonstrations as the 
history of Zion affords, to question the utility of infant con- 
secration. 



CHAPTER X. 



Utility of household consecration continued. Relation of baptized chil- 
dren to the Church. Influence on the prosperity of the Church. The 
theory. 

The utility of infant consecration will farther appear 
to every reflecting mind, 

7. By contemplating the relation which baptized children 
sustain to the Church, 

Having by the act of the parent received the seal of 
the great ecclesiastical covenant, they are included in the 
relative promise made to the parent. They will not be inclu- 
ded in the personal promise of grace made to the believer, 
until they exercise the faith required. On the profession 
of genuine faith in the triune God, their baptism becomes 
to them a token of their personal interest in his saving grace. 
Until they will do this, they are not permitted to commune 
at his table, nor to present their own children in consecra- 
tion. Thus by their voluntary impenitence and unbelief, 
they exclude themselves from fellowship with the Church. 
Their own dedication to God in childhood, if th ey resist the 
righteous claim, cannot qualify them for the Lord's supper, 
or for the baptism of their households, because these are 
ordinances in which they must personally act, and the action 
required is the exercise and expression of living faith. In 
this holy manner the ancient Hebrew was commanded to 
observe the ordinances of the Church, and he was forbidden 
to participate with a wicked heart. Ps. I. 16 : " But unto 
the wicked God saith, What hast thou to do to declare my 
statutes, or that thou shouldst take my covenant in thy 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



107 



mouth ?" This relation, while it does not authorize them to 
enjoy the privileges peculiar to believers, does, however, 
powerfully affect their condition. 

It binds the Church to watch for their souls, through 
their parents. By consecrating them to Christ, the parents 
have covenanted to labor for their salvation. By the 
Church covenant, all the members have engaged to watch 
over each other in this respect, as well as in all others. If, 
then, a parent neglects his duty, the Church is bound by 
her covenant with him to admonish him faithfully, and to 
require the performance. If she does not do this, she 
breaks her covenant. The pastor, too, is pledged to watch 
over the Church, the parents, and the children, and see to 
it that family worship, government, instruction, and the 
ordinances of the Sabbath and sanctuary, are secured to 
every household of his Church. The well regulated and 
faithful covenant-keeping Church will certainly make it 
sure that the baptismal vows are regarded. Of course, if 
the Church regarding this relation does thus, through the 
parents, act on the lambs of the flock, their moral character 
and condition must be moulded under her influence. In 
another manner still this relation affects their condition. 

It binds the parents to press upon them the claims of the 
Church. Suppose the child well instructed in the princi- 
ples of his consecration — that God, by ordaining it, has 
turned the eye of the Church especially upon him, and has 
presented both his righteous claim and his merciful offer 
by the hand of parental affection — apples of gold in pic- 
tures of silver. The question at once arises, shall I acknow- 
ledge that claim and accept that offer? God having mer- 
cifully propounded them — my parents having coincided with 
them — shall I comply ? It is difficult to perceive in what 
manner the gospel proposal could be introduced to the mind 



108 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



of a young child, better adapted to enlist his intellect and 
melt his heart. 

Suppose, now, that child witnesses the communion.-— 
Not being permitted to , partake, he inquires the reason ? 
The parent explains. In participating with me in this ordi- 
nance, you would profess that with an honest heart you 
have trusted in Christ. You have given me no evidence 
that you are prepared to make this profession. I am 
grieved that you are not. Will you now consent to the 
entire surrender which, as a parent, I made of you to Christ 1 
Will you from this time be his, unreservedly, and forever ? 
O, do not exclude yourself from these privileges any 
longer. 

Suppose the parent weekly, daily, should urge his 
household to be prepared for the next communion — that he 
should expostulate, portray the divine mercy, dwell on the 
guilt of a refusal, on the danger of procrastination, on the 
strong motives for immediate compliance. Now it is mani- 
fest that this method of parental exertion, springing* as it 
does, legitimately from the nature of the relation itself, and 
existing just so far as that relation is understood and felt, 
cannot fail to furnish seasons in the domestic history, when 
the sense of personal responsibility will be overwhelming, 
and when the thrilling call of the gospel will pass down into 
the deep places of the soul. This relation, moreover, has 
another bearing. 

It binds all the members of the Church to watch for the 
souls of the household when the parents die. "When God in 
his holy providence calls the parent away, that parent has 
a right to point the Church to his orphan boy, and say* 
Woman, behold thy son / The influence of such feelings 
is elevating — salutary — auspicious in the highest degree. 
It is wonderful : my soul thrills when I call to mind this 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



109 



precious legacy of the righteous. Tales of melting sweet- 
ness might be recited, of the power and practical operation 
of the orphan's promise ; especially of the promises to the 
dying believer, in behalf of the consecrated child. When 
the special provision which God has made for the salvation 
of the child, is removed by his own providence, he seems 
himself to take the parent's place, and he is generally seen 
to do it through his Church. Analagous to this last remark, 
on the relation here considered, is another, that by virtue of it, 
The consecrated child, wherever he may wander, may 
always find those that will care for his soul. He may say 
to the Christian, wherever he meets one, Your brother and 
sister gave me to your God ; in their name, and for his 
sake, I ask your prayers. He is a connection of the great 
family, not merely by the ties of blood, but by the delinea- 
tion of divine mercy. Wherever such a youth makes himself 
known, or is known as a child of the covenant, the Church 
is bound to plead those covenant promises in his behalf. It 
surrounds the homeless wanderer with a thousand guardian 
spirits ; better for not being angels, if indeed they are those 
to whom appertaineth the adoption ! with the covenants and 
the glory ! 

8. The practical uses of infant consecration are manu 
fest, in view of the preservation and prosperity of the Church, 
throughout successive ages. 

Previous to the Abrahamic covenant, its fundamental 
principles operated surely, but more silently. The express, 
definite covenant, with its sacred seal, was unknown, and 
therefore their native force was not fully developed. Yet, 

Through all the veins of ages household streams 
Oozed from their sacred fountains. 

The current, however, although subterranean, can some- 
times be traced by the verdure above it. After the 
establishment of this institution, the pathway of its in- 
10 



110 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION* 



fluence, through the successive periods, is as distinct and 
luminous as the galaxy in the heavens. The waters 
of mercy have rolled down from age to age, since 
the fountain covenant was opened, in this one conspic- 
uous channel. Where this ordinance has been fundamen- 
tally perverted, the Church has been corrupted, but her 
spiritual prosperity has always attended its faithful obser- 
vance. Even since, in one portion of the Church, it has been 
laid aside as an unwarranted ceremony, there have not only 
been no particular tokens of approbation discoverable to- 
ward those who have done so, but the healthiest and noblest 
tide of prosperity has flowed on in the ancient channel, and 
the evil tendencies of the disuse are already visible in the 
short space of a few generations. * You must," said an 
aged minister to his brethren, " you must dedicate your 
children to God, as well as your meeting house. Our chil- 
dren are growing up uninstructed — they are hunting on the 
Sabbath — they are becoming skeptical — you must awake, 
and dedicate them to God." And although the good and vene- 
rable father in Israel was careful to state that he did not in- 
tend to urge the dedication of children, hy the affusion of water, 
in the name of the Trinity, his exhortation implied, that where 
the form did not exist, there was but little of the power , and 
where infant dedication was neglected, there was an alarm* 
ing tendency to the neglect of all visible religion. 

The truth is, there is a sweet and holy influence con- 
nected with this institution, which passes into the closet, 
as well as in the family circle ; and which is shed over the 
great congregation, as well as into the soul, that shutteth the 
door and prayeth to Him who seeth in secret. It tends to 
impress the parents, the children, the community j with the 
solemnity of the marriage covenant. It unfolds its primary 
and its heavenly design, and makes those sins which set it 
at defiance appear peculiarly abominable. The value of 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECBATION. 



Ill 



these, the legitimate impressions of this ordinance, cannot 
be too highly appreciated. Especially, in view of all these 
practical bearings, does the importance of this institution 
seem manifest, as connected with the system of missionary 
operations. Tending, as it does, to give permanency to 
Christian establishments by its bearing on successive gene- 
rations, we have reason to hail with joy the formation of 
every new Church among the heathen, on the principles of 
the Abrahamic covenant. An encouraging prospect is 
before us, even in most disheartening present labors, because 
we know that the God of that everlasting covenant has, in 
all ages, thus illustrated the reality of his promise by the 
whole course of his providence in the preservation and pros- 
perity of Zion. 

The practical importance, therefore, of infant consecra- 
tion, is fully evinced by an extended examination of its 
influence. The writer commenced these discussions under 
the firm belief that, important as the inductive philosophy is 
to human science, it cannot be permitted to control the 
theories of revelation ; that if any scheme of doctrine is 
sanctioned in the word of God, it may be adopted without 
hesitation, and the universe of facts may be trusted to fur- 
nish a continued scene of varied and appropriate illustration. 
After the survey which we have taken of the actual bear- 
ings of this practice, we may, however, return with war- 
mer impressions of confidence to the theory with which it 
is indissolubly connected in the word of God. How rational, 
how consistent, and sublime, is that theory ! How glori- 
ously it illustrates the wisdom of the Infinite Mind, and the 
benevolence of his unfailing counsels. 

We behold him taking the great principle of the moral 
universe — that mind is ordained to exert moral influence over 
mind universally and forever — and applying it to the pro- 
bation of man in a most emphatic manner, by means of the 



1 13 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



family constitution and the consequent relationship of gene- 
rations — and when the fall of man, and the certain depravity 
of all his generations, rendered this principle powerful for 
evil, we behold him incorporating it, by means of the family 
constitution into all the methods of restoring mercy, that 
it might be equally powerful for good. Then, as the cove- 
nant of redemption had secured in Christ, and for him, the 
certain renovation and salvation of great multitudes from 
all generations, the consecrated household influence was 
made the main channel of his grace, for the accomplishment of 
this eternal purpose. Moreover, as the covenant of grace 
secured in Christ the pardon, perseverance, and progressive 
holiness of every believer, a foundation was thus laid, in its 
very nature, for securing that permanent, holy parental in- 
fluence, during his lifetime, over his descendants. Therefore, 
in order that a holy influence of mind over mind might be 
secured, as a channel of grace, during all time, through the 
household constitution, he first established his visible Church 
on the covenant of grace ; placed in her hands this powerful 
family influence ; encouraged her by revealing his gracious 
design, and wrought the elements of the three into the 
Abrahamic covenant ; thereby making it a glorious admi- 
nistration of grace, and confirmed it by a solemn seal for a 
thousand generations. As that covenant thus contained the 
personal promise of persevering grace to the believer, and a 
distinct and precious promise of spiritual blessings to the 
believing parent, in behalf of his descendants, the same seal 
was applied both to the parent and the child ; the claim of 
God to both thus being asserted, and the consecration of both 
being necessarily implied, on the part of the parent, in his 
own voluntary act of receiving the appropriate seal for 
himself and his household. Thus, through all the ages of 
the old dispensation, God was erecting his spiritual temple 
on this foundation ; gathering his polished stones chiefly from 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



113 



the Jewish nation ; and by the very peculiarities of the an- 
cient economy, preparing for the Messiah's advent. When 
the Saviour appeared, and that same spiritual temple was 
to derive its materials from all nations, the Christian dis- 
pensation was established ; inheriting the ancient covenant, 
with confirmed, augmented, and elevated privileges, extend- 
ing its vital principles over vaster regions of mind, and em- 
bracing, as the result of their practical operation, the tri- 
umphs of a universal gospel. 

Such is the outline of the scriptural theory of infant 
consecration. We have called it sublime ; perhaps we 
should characterize it better by the appellations grand and 
beautiful. It presents before us— 

That covenant sealed — that deep domestic fount, 
Whence streams of life perennial flow ; where flowers 
Of holy promise, all unwithering bloom. 
There, too, great Spirit of redeeming grace ! 
(Amidst these principles and changeless truths,) 
There thou, enthroned, abidest ; at whose feet 
The ages of redemption roll and shine. 



10* 



CHAPTER XI. 



Household consecration, in its administration. The Wyandot Chief. 
The baptism. 

If, to the reflecting and believing mind, this ordinance 
be grand and beautiful in theory, it must in administration 
be animating and impressive. This indeed is evident from 
the fact, that even the untutored mind, if awakened by pa- 
rental love, and inspired by gospel truth, is able to feel its 
attraction, and to glow with its vital elements. As an 
illustration of this, the story of the Wyandot Chief might 
be adduced. Converted to Christ in the wilderness, he 
travelled a great distance with his little son, in order to visit 
a band of Christian ministers, and commit him to their 
charge, to be educated for the Lord. He stood amidst the 
Presbytery, and consecrated him to the service of Jehovah. 
He asked them to undertake the education of his son, and 
when they assented, he required them to give him a writ- 
ten pledge that they would be faithful to their solemn charge. 
When this deed of faith was accomplished he returned, con- 
fiding, satisfied, rejoicing. Suppose this poor Indian had 
witnessed the Christian father and mother consecrating 
their infant children to Jehovah, would there not have been' 
even in his untutored mind, an apprehension of its propriety, 
and an inward fellowship with the parental vows and hopes ? 
How much more, then, shall the scene of infant consecration 
be appreciated, when the mind has entered deeply into its 
spiritual design, and incorporated with its strongest emo- 
tions these everlasting principles. 

To the thoughtless it may seem a vain ceremonial and 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION, 



115 



an unscriptural rite ; but to the studious heart, to the en- 
lightened parent, to the instructed children, and to " their 
angels which do always behold the face of our Father 
which is in heaven," it will reveal, through its humble as. 
pect the grandeur of its eternal relations. To them it is 
in truth — 

A scene of glowing beauty ! 'Tis the day 
When Zion gathers to the house of prayer. 
Behold a young and godly pair advance, 
And in the presence of that solemn flock 
Present their offering to the King of saints — 
Their first-born son, a holy child of faith. 
Then, as the angel of the Church implores 
The God of Abraham for his changeless love 
To those believing parents, and their seed, 
How low they bow, how earnestly commit 
That child of love and beauty to his grace, 
In that deep prayer uniting. Who can tell 
How strong the father's purpose, or how full 
The fond maternal heart, as on the brow 
Of that fair infant, in affusion holy, 
The man of God the sealing water sheds. 

See, 'midst the scene, that infant aspect glow 
With beams of glory ; for the smile suppressed, 
The rich parental tear and mutual glance — 
Tokens expressive of glad faith within — 
Fall sweetly on it. Lo ! the triune God 
Hath set a glorious seal, his own great name, 
On that immortal creature. Guardian forms 
Pledge to each other, to the Church, to God, 
That they will guide him in the ways of truth, 
Watch o'er him as a consecrated thing, 
And train his spirit for the Lord of hosts. 
O, how it girds the soul up — that deep voice 
In the pure musings of the inmost heart — 
" Fear not, O parent, I will be a God 
To thee and tliine /" How rich that promise seemed, 
As from that sacred altar they returned, 
Bearing, amidst the yearnings of their faith, 
A sealed spirit ! Greeting their return, 
Some aged Simeon, or some Anna, rich 
In heavenly treasures and in title-deeds 



116 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



To everlasting promises, would hail them 
With kiss of love, with long and holy kiss, 
Involving and expressing on the cheek 
Of that dear infant the unsullied faith 
Of ancient generations, and bestow 
The patriarchal blessing on his head. 

How felt those parents as, retiring calm, 
Tender, resolved, with lofty purpose filled, 
They to their own sweet home rejoicing bore 
The gift of God, the child of covenant love, 
Their holy offspring ! Never, till then, O, never 
Seemed, in their view, that beauteous babe so dear- 
Seemed that sweet home so glorious, so refined ! 

O ! 'twas like heaven, as with a mutual care 
They placed the cradle by the altar's side, 
And, kneeling where their loved one sleeping smiled, 
Renewed before the ancient household shrine 
The heart-felt consecration ; then implored 
That grace which He, the God of promise, sealed 
To them and theirs. If faith, which works by love, 
Be strong with God, strong in prevailing prayer, 
Then rose that altar's incense pure to heaven, 
And angels looked upon that sacred spot, 
Where bloomed the rose of Eden — looked and said, 
How sweet the work to guard it ! Ah, many, many 
Such glorious watching places angels find 
Round Zion's sunny hills and streams of grace. 

Think not that angel visits are but " few 
And far between." Oft at the rosy morn, 
Or the still quiet evening, lo, they come, 
Spirits invisible, to watch, to kneel 
In the loved circle of a covenant home, 
Strengthening the saint, the father, while he prays, 
And leads e'en guardian angels to the throne. 

Celestial work ! high, elevating task ! 
To wear the unsullied ephod, which is cast, 
By God's own mercy, round the household priest, 
As trembling he advances. As he leads 
To the pure shrine the partner of his cares, 
O, how their souls commingle ! How the power 
Of minds united, fired, and giving forth, 
Into one prayer, issues of endless life, 
Wrestles in words of faith, and tones of love. 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



117 



The new creation pours its shining truths 
In one strong- argument : the radiant law, 
Claiming for God life's earliest loves and hopes — 
The immortal soul of infancy ; the cross 
That op'd the gates when came the Holy Dove, 
Bearing the peace-branch, wet with purest dews 
Of paradise restored ; the fall of man, 
The chain of ages ; generations linked, 
For good or evil, bearing from earliest guilt 
Sin to each life, and second death to death ; 
Redemption's glorious scheme ; and covenant grace, 
Poured like a stream in sunlight, and in joy 
From age to age — all, all these lofty truths 
Press on the soul, and form themselves in prayer. 
And prayer, so formed, shall lodge its great request 
Deep in the bosom of its covenant God, 
Shall grasp the chain of promises, and bind 
Around the loved that spiritual string of pearls — 
Pearls of great price — gems of especial grace, 
Hung, like the shield of knighthood, on the just— 
Or like the star that gilds the royal brow, 
Glows on the patriarch's forehead, and beseems 
The crown of glory, such as Christ bestows 
On heavenly princes. Higher than all degrees 
Of earthly heraldry — beyond all gems 
Of empire — purer, brighter, costlier far. 

In the course of thought pursued in this chapter, I have 
rather followed the promptings of my heart than the pre- 
scriptions of method. There is, indeed, so much of pow- 
erful and attractive beauty in this ordinance, that it is cal- 
culated to impart intellectual enjoyment, as well as salutary 
religious impression. Indeed, we have always reason to 
exclaim, " How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of 
hosts!" in reference to all the methods of his grace, and all 
the ordinances of his worship. 



CHAPTER XII. 



' Practical reflections. Application of these principles to parents. 

The grand object of this discussion having been to pro- 
mote the practical influence of this ordinance, I trust that 
the different classes concerned in it, will permit me to ad- 
dress them with such reflections as the principles before us 
authorize. In the first place, I solicit the attention of pa- 
rents. To them this argument proclaims that the parental 
relation itself is of deep and solemn import. It is a relation 
which no angel may sustain ; which in the higher grades 
of intelligence no being but God sustains. Its design is to 
educate souls for an endless and blissful existence. God 
has therefore confined, and adapted it, through the institution 
of marriage, to such a mode of existence as should effectu- 
ally conduce to the spiritual welfare of all the parties con- 
cerned. This ordinance of infant consecration, has stamped 
this relation with the seal of infinite mercy and gracious 
protection. It regards the parent as a being loaded with 
interests and responsibilities which draw hard on the far- 
reaching cords of eternity. As he climbs up the straight 
path, and the bright but rugged way, it beckons him on ; it 
shines about his steps ; it reaches forth the hand of promise, 
and clasps the hand of his faith to lift him up and lead him 
higher, till the path is all brightness, and the day is perfect. 
Through this ordinance, the Church has taken hold of the 
marriage institution, and of the parental relation, thus sanc- 
tifying them for her own appropriate and lofty purpose.— 
The destination of the Church is so glorious, and the pur- 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



119 



poses of her existence so spiritually grand, that the parental 
relation deriveth from this connection and subserviency a 
corresponding sacredness and grandeur. It is no light 
thing that this relation should be publicly designated as the 
main channel between the high designs of the spiritual 
Church and their accomplishment in the salvation of immor- 
tal souls. 

It is no light thing for the parents to sustain this relation 
through which the redeeming grace is poured. It will be 
no trifling matter for the impenitent parent, that he refused 
to acknowledge the benevolent claims of the Church upon 
his parental influence. It will sound strange to the august 
spectators of the judgment, that he strove to wrench it away 
from the tenure of the Church, and secured his own off- 
spring from all participation in the blessings of the cove- 
nant. There will then be appalling disclosures as to the 
manner in which the human heart has scorned all the ap- 
proaches of the Church, in these provisions of mercy. It 
will then appear, (what it really is,) most amazing infatua- 
tion, that the impenitent parent could so deliberately bind 
around the souls of his children the ligatures of moral pollu- 
tion. It is abhorrent to all the instinctive principles of 
unfallen moral natures, or of ransomed spirits, whether 
made perfect in heaven, or going on towards perfection on 
earth, that parents can seat themselves beside their babes 
with thoughtless levity, to weave into the open heart of 
childhood the principles of eternal woe. What ! are not 
the passions of your child sufficiently ardent, unless you 
stimulate them with the ingredients of madness ! Are not 
the tendencies of his depraved heart sufficiently malign, 
unless you mingle into them the elements of eternal despair? 
Are not the temptations of Satan and the wiles of the pit 
enough to effect his ruin, unless you shall engage in the 
conspiracy ? Will not his moral interests be sufficiently 



120 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



exposed in this guilty world, unless you carefully withdraw 
from them a parent's protection ? Let the impenitent pa- 
rent look to this. Through this ordinance, your insulted 
God demands your child. He claims from you, in behalf 
of that child, that family, a holy parental influence. He 
promises, if you will yield to his claim, to make that holy 
influence of yours a channel for his own, and to transcribe 
from the moral lineaments of your own mind the charac- 
teristics of holiness on the heart of your child. If you 
refuse this claim, and pass on impenitent, he will permit the 
spirits of darkness to amuse themselves in painting on the 
soul of your child the moral likeness of its parent. He now 
calls upon you in every public administration of this ordi- 
nance, to decide whether you will have a holy character ; 
and hence the promise of the Spirit to transmit its features 
from generation to generation ; or whether you will have a 
character of pollution, and have that same character 
wrought by the agency of Satan into that of your offspring 
unto the third and fourth generation. These inquiries must 
be answered without delay, for the terrible portraiture is 
already going on. Even while you hestitate, the image is 
assuming its ineffaceable lineaments. Awake, and give 
yourself and give your child over into the bosom of the 
covenant, and into the dominion of the Holy Ghost, if you 
would escape a speedy and a multifold damnation. Strive ! 
yearn ! struggle ! for, peradventure, even yet, the plague 
may be stayed.. You mi!tet meet that child whom you with- 
hold from Christ, at the judgment seat. You must there 
account for the perversion of that family influence. There 
a strict inquiry will be made into all the history of your 
household relations. There you must meet the glance of 
every child whom your example has corrupted, your neg- 
lect has ruined, and your perverted influence has moulded 
for the scenes of the pit. You must meet him amidst those 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION* 



121 



scenes. How terrible that meeting in such a place ! There 
will be the ungodly parents, with their ungodly children. 
There will be reason, unclouded, tracing, in the light of 
eternity, the connection between the household influences 
and the horrible pit. 

There will be memory recalling, with the vividness of 
immortality, each event in the whole series of fireside agen- 
cies, by which the utter ruin of your offspring was per- 
fected. There will be fancy portraying, with terrible bril- 
liancy of conception, the realities of eternally augmenting 
woe. There will be conscience, binding fast about the soul 
the scorching chains of truth ; and pouring from its vials 
of unmitigated wrath the scalding anguish of remorse. 
There will be self-will ; unsubdued malicious passion, goad- 
ed into frenzy ; unmingled depravity, assuming its hue of 
settled and festering blackness ; and there, and then, and 
thus, will the group of lost children gather round the neg- 
lectful, the unbelieving, and the prayerless parent ! The 
companionship which was most intimate here will be 
most appalling there. The endearments which were most 
valued here will be changed into most disgusting bitter- 
ness there. The circle where the smile of impenitent joy 
was lighted most brightly, and the image of impenitent pa- 
rents reflected most softly ; where impenitent hopes were 
most warmly cherished, and impenitent songs most sweetly 
chanted ; will, if transported there, become the circle whose 
aspect, whose reflected image, whose despair and wailing, 
will seem, to the impenitent parent, most hateful and ago- 
nizing, amid all the groups of hell. Hearken to the warn- 
ing voice, O impenitent parent ! To thee, guilty as thou 
art, the gospel yet offers pardon. It proposes to adopt thee 
into the family of God. It proposes, even now, to bring 
salvation to thine house. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and thou and thy house shall be saved. There is room for 
11 



122 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



thee, and room for thine offspring ! The footsteps of eter- 
nal mercy are heard about thy dwelling. She knocks 
loudly at thy door — she implores thee to admit her, for the 
sake of thine own soul, for the sake of thine idolized chil- 
dren. She offers thee, for them, the blessings of the ever- 
lasting covenant. She throws open its door, and cries aloud, 
Come thou and all thy house into the ark. 

To pious parents I may speak with confidence. They 
will feel, that if God has indeed established this ordinance 
on the principles advocated in these chapters, their relation 
to their children is most tender and momentous. Their mar- 
riage covenant itself assumes a loftier and a sweeter aspect. 
It is a mutual league, not for purposes of personal advan- 
tage, but for high and overwhelming objects. It is a league 
to defend a group of immortal souls from the wiles of the 
devil ; to instruct them, from extremest ignorance, into the 
mightiest truths of religion ; to constitute a channel for the 
eternal influx of sanctifying grace ; to train up agents des- 
tined to exert a heavenly influence on their associates in 
time ; to educate and qualify them for the deep, sacred com- 
panionships of heaven ; to form, out of the ties of natural 
affection, bonds imperishable, of sweet, celestial love ; and 
finally, to polish and fashion them to be stones in that spirit- 
ual temple in which the fulness of the triune God resides 
forever ; living in every part, and through every part shi- 
ning out, irradiating the intelligent universe with his light, 
and eternity itself with his glory. If these are thy hopes. 
Christian parent, O with what earnest grasp shouldst thou 
lay hold of covenant promises. With what untiring labor 
shouldst thou bind all the healthy influences of the house- 
hold covenant about the soul of thy child ! With what assi- 
duous carefulness shouldst thou sow the ideas of the cove- 
nant in the soil of his earliest emotions ! How shouldst thou 
water them with thy tears, and beseech the Spirit of all 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



123 



grace to warm them into life and productiveness by his own 
vital energy ! How shouldst thou be concerned, lest thy 
partner in life should grow remiss in duty ! How careful 
should ye be not to embarrass each other ! How anxious 
mutually to strengthen each other in your appropriate and 
respective duties ! How ardently should you plead the pro- 
mise, " Where two or three are met together in my name, 
there am I in the midst of them to bless them." 

Perhaps you can each number, in the ancestral line of 
your fathers' house, a company of holy, faithful believers 
in the covenant. Perhaps a cloud of witnesses encompass 
your habitation. Lay hold, then, of the age-lasting cove- 
nant. Avail yourselves of their precious intercessions — 
intercessions and corresponding labors from which the hea- 
venly influences have descended like dew on your own 
souls ; make all these the heritage of your children's chil- 
dren, by renewing the intercession and imitating the labor. 
Let all the inward yearnings of your own souls concentrate 
their power to weave, from these household truths, " the 
ark of bulrushes," for the infant Moses ; and place it among 
the flowers of promise, which bloom along the Nile of the 
Church — the river of the everlasting covenant. Art thou 
aware, Christian parent, that death will soon sever thee 
from thy partner ? That thou shalt soon be called away to 
leave thy partner with the uncompleted charge? O ! how 
should the certainty of this separation, and the uncertainty 
when it shall occur, or which shall first be called, constrain 
thee to live in such a manner, that if thou art first called, 
thou mayst leave behind thee the legacy of a parent's 
prayers, and the memory of a parent's instruction — and the 
lustre of a partner's holy example. So let thine energy be, 
that the surviving partner shall be admonished by the me- 
mory of thy faithfulness to augmented diligence, and encou- 
raged in view of the covenant promise — that treasure-house 



124 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



for the prayers of a departed ancestry — to sing for joy even 
amid the loneliness of widowhood. Perhaps even now 
there follows these lines the moistened eye of some widow- 
ed parent. O ! to thee how solemnly, how sweetly does 
this ordinance speak ! How delightful the thought, that 
thou hast consecrated thy family to that God into whose 
presence thy partner has ascended ! How solemn, if the 
responsibilities which formerly rested on both are now roll- 
ed upon thee alone ! How comforting, in these circum- 
stances, to lean on that arm which oft sustained both, and 
which now is especially pledged to sustain thee, because 
thou art lonely. How glorious the thought, that thou 
mayest now lay hold of the all-sufficient covenant with 
greater confidence than ever ! How consoling, to lead the 
fatherless or the motherless into his banqueting house, and 
to sit under his banner of love ! 

Perhaps some parent reads this, whose agonized soul 
exclaims, My partner is living, but hath no hope in Christ, 
no portion in covenant promises. O then, let the interests 
of thy family prompt thee to redoubled diligence for their 
salvation. If one-half of the parental influence is withheld 
or perverted, to which that young group are entitled, be it 
your determination so to live, that the deficiency shall be, 
as far as possible, supplied, or the adverse influence counter- 
acted. Thou wilt need large supplies of grace ; but his 
grace is sufficient even for thee. Be resolved, moreover, 
to plead the full power of the covenant for thy partner's 
conversion. l( For what knowest thou, O wife ! whether 
thou shalt save thy husband ? or how knowest thou, O man ! 
whether thou shalt save thy wife ?" Plead that the uncon- 
verted may be taught of the Lord, in order that thy house- 
hold may be saved, and the full design of the marriage in- 
stitution be secured. Let the glory of divine grace, as 
manifested through the covenant, be the grand argument 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



125 



in thy prayer ; and, like Jacob wrestling, cry, " I will not 
let thee go, except thou bless me !" 

On the whole, this ordinance is calculated powerfully 
to impress us with the importance of holiness of life. The 
pious parent should remember, that he is not merely to 
seek the conversion of his children, but to seek to educate 
them for unblemished, consistent, and eminent Christians. 
If he wishes this for his family, he must sustain this cha- 
racter himself. If he backslides, if he falters, or wavers ; 
if he is grossly deficient, if he is guilty of outbreaking sin, 
he has reason to expect that the effects of his transgression 
will be terribly visited on his children, even if so as by fire, 
he and they shall be saved. The standard of Christian cha- 
racter must be high in the aim of parents, if we expect to 
have it high in the purpose of their children. 

That the standard of personal piety should be vastly 
elevated in the Church of God, is painfully manifest. Un- 
less it is, we shall never witness the full power of the gos- 
pel in this guilty world. It is by the beauty and energy of 
evangelical holiness that religion is to shine and advance. 
The glory of God, the excellency of his government, the 
specimens of his holiness, are to be exhibited through the 
moral features of his visible Church. The day of universal 
triumph for Zion is thus to be introduced, perpetuated, and 
glorified. On the parents, therefore, of this generation the 
responsibility rests of moulding the character of the millen- 
nial Church. Never before seemed the provisions of this 
covenant so infinitely important as at the present crisis. 
O that its many voices might break like sevenfold thun- 
der on the slumbering parents of the present generation. 
Ye men of Israel, who bear the vessels of the Lord ; who 
wait around the courts of this altar, where still the She- 
chinah tarries, awake ! Ye parents, ye holy watchers 
about the fountains of holiness for unborn ages, be care* 
11* 



126 HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 

ful how ye tread. One false parental step may crush a 
thousand interests ! One holy, consecrated parent may 
yet descry, from the hills of God, some sweet, perpetual 
stream of far distant ages issuing from the fountains which 
his faith replenished. 



CHAPTER XIII. , 



Practical reflections. Application of these principles to fathers. 

The train of thought which we have pursued, urges me 
to address a few considerations to those who are not only 
parents, but fathers. It proclaims that the paternal rela- 
tion is pre-eminently responsible. May I not hope that the 
fathers will listen while I attempt to utter, in appropriate 
words, its deep and earnest tones. Its call to you is pecu- 
liarly loud, because you are the constituted head of the 
family. This station you hold by right of nature, of neces- 
sity, and the marriage covenant. Duties grow out of rela- 
tions. The relation of your sex to the other, is that of the 
primary to the secondary ; of the original to the derived ; 
of the strong to the weak — as is manifest in the order of 
creation and the constitution of nature. The duties arising 
from these relations are to cherish, to love, to protect, and 
to provide. The obligation, thus arising, being as durable 
as the relations themselves, constitutes the foundation and 
the safety of the marriage covenant. The marriage cove- 
nant, therefore, has bound you, as an individual, to perform 
these duties towards the wife of your choice. In the same 
manner these relations have been extended to your off- 
spring, and these duties are extended as far and as perpetu- 
ally as these relations. The mother shares with you in 
the obligations, just in that degree that she shares the ex- 
tended relations, and therefore subordinately. Your share 
in them both being primal and paramount, it binds down to 



128 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



your soul a corresponding weight of responsibility. You, 
then, as a husband and father, are held supremely respon- 
sible both to man and to God, for the support, defence, and 
welfare of your family. You first sought the matrimonial 
connection in which you are placed. It was yours first to 
select ; first to mature the proposals and present them. — 
You, in the marriage ceremony itself, first avowed your 
preference and your purpose — first gave the sacred pledge. 
From the nature of things, from the necessity of the case, 
and from the marriage covenant, you have been set forth 
as the constituted head of the household. On you, there- 
fore, the heaviest bearings of the covenant of consecration 
are made to rest. Your responsibilities are the corner 
stone on which its claims are based. That covenant claims 
your offspring for Christ, and demands of you, as the au- 
thorized head, an explicit consent. That covenant claims 
your paternal influence for Christ, and demands that you, 
as the head of that family, shall sincerely pledge it to him, 
and exert it for him. That covenant points you to a code 
of laws ordained for those young immortals, and claims the 
whole weight of your supreme authority to sustain and 
enforce them. That covenant is a system of protection 
graciously provided in their behalf, from the tyranny of sin 
and the curse of the law ; from the temptations of the world 
and the wiles of the devil. It claims, therefore, not only 
that the united parents shall, as such, take hold of it — but 
that you, in your relation as father, in your station as the 
head of the household, shall stand forth, and pledge that all 
the power which God has vested in your hands for these 
purposes, shall be exerted to give your household its full 
advantages as a system of protection. Your obligation to 
stand forth in the obedience of faith in this great matter, as 
far exceeds your obligation to protect them against an 
attack of wild beasts or savage men, as the interest at stake 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



129 



in this case exceeds that in the other. On you , therefore, 
pre-eminently, the responsibility rests of maintaining family 
government on the principles of the gospel. Of Abraham 
God said, I know him, that he will command his household 
after me. He expects that you will do the same ; that you 
will so rule your own house that your children shall be 
trained up in the way that they should go. He has placed 
before you solemn warnings against a refusal in the case of 
Adam, of Cain, of Eli, and of David. When he maketh 
inquisition for the blood of souls, shed amidst household 
scenes, he will call first for the father. Your name will be 
heard first, as Adam heard his, as Eli and David heard 
theirs, when the providence of God in one case and his 
prophet in the other, and his judgment in both, said, " Thou 
art the man !" The relation you sustain, which thus makes 
you prominent in responsibility, will set you forth prominent 
in the final retribution. That station being so conspicuous 
in view of your offspring, invests your conduct with great 
solemnity. The whole weight and power connected with it 
will be thrown on the side of covenant claims, or will ope- 
rate against them. You cannot retain that station, and re- 
main neutral on this question of consecration. You cannot 
justify yourself before the God of these relations, if you 
will not govern your life according to them. If, against 
the voice of God, and against the strong claims of his cove- 
nant, you deprive your household of this system of perfection, 
and lead them by your neglect or example into dangerous 
exposures, God will avenge himself of the insult, and your 
immortal children of the injury. He has bestowed upon 
each child a natural right to parental care, instruction, and 
example. He has demanded of the parents a solemn 
pledge that this right shall be regarded, and he calls upon 
you, as the father, to see to it that the pledge is both given 
and performed. The authority which you possess is conferred 



130 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



upon you for the sake of the child ; and if you misemploy 
it, by using it for his worldly good only, or for purposes ad- 
verse to his spiritual and highest good, you will involve 
yourself in a condemnation which will be pre-eminently 
fearful. 

Another consideration, which will illustrate the nature 
of parental responsibility, is, that the father is the constituted 
priest of the household. 

Your household, Christian father, if regulated according 
to the principles of the covenant, resembles a little Church. 
Its members are consecrated to God ; its great object is his 
glory in the salvation of souls ; its daily meals are feasts 
of intimate communion, commemorating in the " blessing" 
and the tf thanks" his abounding love. Its family worship 
speaks for itself. In all these respects it is your place to 
officiate. To administer its discipline ; to direct its religious 
services ; to dispense from the father's seat — that sacred 
desk of the little sanctuary — the words of life ; to expound 
the sacred page ; to lead the confiding group to the \hrone 
of grace, is the office work of the father. These duties in- 
vest him, in the view of the observing flook, with a sacred 
character. The God of the household covenant has assign- 
ed to you this important station. From day to day, 
from year to year, your sentiments are thus to be uttered, 
and your deepest and strongest emotions to be exhibited in 
their presence. The events of the day ; the providences 
of Ihe week ; the affecting incidents of the family, are to 
collect their lessons in your prayers and instructions at the 
family altar. If you are spiritually minded, the influence 
breathed through all the concerns of the week will be spi- 
ritual also. It is, therefore, vastly important that your at- 
tainments in evangelical knowledge and holiness should be 
great, eminent, and manifest. If you will feel this as you 
ought, your heart will burn to obtain the best qualifications, 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



131 



and to acquit yourself honorably in view of witnessing an- 
gels, amidst these responsibilities. You will rejoice with 
pure and serene joy, if you are enabled to behold the mo- 
ther, in her own peculiar sphere, cleaving to the Lord of the 
covenant. You will delight to enforce her judicious regu- 
lations with your decisive authority, and embody her affec- 
tions and persuasions in your paternal counsels and prayers. 

How guilty are those fathers who publicly profess re- 
ligion, and yet who will not act as the priest of their house- 
hold ; whose voice, if heard in prayer, would sound strange 
in the ears of those children who often behold them at the 
table of the Lord. If there is one such father now reading 
these remarks, I conjure him to repent. I beg of him to 
remember, that God will hold him responsible for depriving 
his family of these sacred rights, which he has demanded 
for them in the very provisions of the covenant. Your ne- 
glect, O guilty professor, embarrasses your partner in life ; 
if she is pious, it discourages her exertions ; if she is impe- 
nitent, it will probably ruin her soul. 

To the impenitent father these views come with implo- 
ring earnestness, and with alarming import. Perhaps, a 
pious wife, in the ear of her child, has to explain why the 
father does not pray. Perhaps the thoughtful child that 
has visited where the family altar was honored, sits wonder- 
ing in her mind why her father does not pray. Perhaps in 
the simplicity of childhood, she asked you, why you do not 
pray. Perhaps you are called to stand in the place of your 
aged father, now superannuated or departed, and that on you 
rests the guilt of causing the voice of prayer to cease in the 
ancient mansion, whose walls had for ages been consecra- 
ted by the holy words of faith, and the simple rites of the 
patriarchal Church. If any or all of these impressive cir- 
cumstances put in their plea for God, how stubborn must 
that heart be, which shall interpose between the descending 



132 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



blessings of consecrated ages past, and the immortal inter- 
ests of ages to come, and erect the barriers of unholy- 
parental influence, to roll back the living waters. Perhaps, 
if you have no such pious ancestry, you have lured away 
from the God of her fathers your devoted wife, and are 
standing between her soul and the spiritual good which, 
were it not for your influence, she would have secured to 
herself and her children. 

Yet, if no such peculiar fact is connected with your his- 
tory, there are two great facts connected with your pater- 
nal relation, which should arouse you to repentance. One 
is, that God will call you to account, as the head of the family, 
for all your abuse of the sacred powers with which he in- 
vested you. The other is, that he will demand of you a 
reason for your refusal to act as his minister, in the circle 
where he placed you. From this station of responsibility 
you cannot descend, so long as your paternal relations ex- 
ist. The final account will of course be called for. What 
wilt thou say when he shall punish thee ? " Prepare to 
meet thy God," impenitent father. Be sure, moreover, that 
he will not meet thee as a man. 

3. The responsibility of the father is manifest from the 
fact, that he transmits his name, and the great historical 
associations of the family, through all the periods of time. 
Is it no object to you, Christian father, that the name which 
is written on the Lamb's book of life, and that which you 
transmit to innumerable descendants, should pass down, 
laden with promises ; venerable for its Christian renown, 
and revered for its holy memories ? Is it nothing to you, 
that either you now inherit such a name from ages past, or 
now may thus present in the chancery of the covenant 
your own name, for ages to come ? It is a great thing for a 
father to have his name written in the book of life. It is 
written on the bright leaf of the covenant of grace, ensured 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION* 



133 



for free pardon ; for sanctification* and perseverance ; for 
final glory. It is written on the leaf of the household cove- 
nant, adorned with the personal promise of grace, on one 
page, and with the everlasting household promise on the 
other. An edition of the book of life, published, so far as it 
may be to mortals, for the use of the Church. Will it be 
no joy, to have angels continue to announce it, for the delight 
of heaven, that another and another of distant generations, 
bearing that name, have repented ? Will it not be above 
all earthly applause, to hear the ancient inhabitants of hea- 
ven respond " that same name, that old, familiar name V* 
This is the glory, the honor, the immortality, of the faithful 
father. In these methods,, surely, the name of the just 
shall be held in everlasting remembrance. 

But the name of the wicked shall rot. Is it noth- 
ing to you, O impenitent father, that whatever honors 
may be associated with your name» in the records of 
worldly glory, it shall be indelibly disgraced in heaven? 
Is it nothing, that as to the third and fourth generation, 
thy influence descends upon those that wear thy name, 
" the tormentors" shall calmly await the death of thy des- 
cendants, as affording a sure addition to their number, or 
taunt thee with astonishment, if any of thine come not to the 
place of their dwelling ? Is it nothing, when the overcoming 
mercy of God shall supplant thy influence, and elevate that 
name, as worn by distant ages, amidst the salvations of the 
millennium, to have it distinctly recorded, that had not thy 
influence been especially counteracted by his sovereign 
grace, thou wouldst have sent it down disgraced amidst all 
those glories ? Is it nothing, to expose those that wear it, 
to those terrible judgments which will prepare the way for 
the millennium, by the extermination of the ungodly ? Is it 
nothing, amidst the revelations of the judgment, to have thy 
name, as transmitted along with thine influence, stained 
12 



134 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



with all manner of crime, and characterized by all de- 
grees of rebellion, through various ages? Ah ! how will 
it appear, when the searchings of the judgment shall reveal 
the hearts that have gloried beneath it 1 Reveal those 
hearts, in all the history of their outbursting influence, and 
the secresy of their vilest passions ! Pause, O impenitent 
father, and give thy name — thy patriarchal name — thine 
hereditary appellation— to the God of grace. Inscribe it, 
associated with the names of thy children, and of thy wife, 
on the Abrahamic covenant ! The wings of that covenant 
are lifted, to cover thee ! O come thyself, and gather thy 
children under them ! 

The responsibility of the father is pre-eminently great. 
He needs, therefore, to understand the covenant, in order 
that he may fully appreciate his responsibility, and at the 
same time be sustained under its pressure. He is the con- 
stituted head, priest, and representative of his household. 
He is invested with these offices by the unchanging ordinan- 
ces of God* He may not retire from this station of respon- 
sibilities. Overwhelming motives call him to faithfulness. 
He needs to take advantage of all the covenant promises. 
His daughter, blending the mother's grace with the father's 
dignity, claims the guardianship of the covenant. The purity, 
the elevation of its principles, should be so wrought into the 
father's character, that his image in all times of temptation 
should rise upon her heart, like a guardian Spirit, to purify, 
energize, and protect. His son, exposed in this bustling and 
licentious age, to a thousand snares, as he breaks forth from 
the scenes of the nursery and of quiet home, to mingle with 
the world, needs a father's thorough instructions, nobleness 
of example, unsullied reputation, and inspiring presence, to 
be at once a model of imitation and a wall of defence. The 
great enterprises of benevolence ; the revolutionary spirit 
of the age ; the great conflict of principles ; the rising im- 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECBATION. 



135 



portance of questions, of a moral nature, call loudly upon 
the fathers of this age to build the prospects of their sons 
on the enduring foundations of the gracious covenant. O, 
how unwise, how recreant to all sacred trust, is that father, 
who, not content with refusing to discharge his duty, does 
all he can to countervail the efforts of a believing wife ; 
who, by his habitual ungodliness, his vile sentiments, and 
perhaps his outrageous abuse of conjugal relations, per- 
verts all the high powers of usefulness which God has con- 
ferred upon him, into means of ruin for his offspring, and 
into stores of vengeance for himself. If such a father shall 
read this passage, I beg him to remember, that the God of 
the widow and the orphan will avenge upon his soul that 
conduct which, to his family, is worse than widowhood and 
orphanage. Perhaps God, to save the family, may cut him 
suddenly down, in order that the mother may freely per- 
form the duties which he neglects, or at least exert her own 
influence, uncounteracted. 

Perhaps the mother may be removed to a place where 
the wicked trouble not, while the father is left to mould and 
fashion morally his offspring according to his own charac- 
ter, and provide himself with accusers for the judgment seat, 
and with tormentors for the scenes of the pit. Terrible 
will be the fall of that f ither who tramples on the interests 
which the covenant is designed to protect, and defies the au- 
thority of that God who has pledged for its vindication, not 
only the issues of his grace, but the severity of his retri- 
bution. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Practical reflections continued. Application of these principles to 
mothers. 

In applying the fundamental principles of this institution 
to those who are not only parents but mothers, I shall sup- 
pose a mother situated as she is assumed to be, in its original 
and natural design. 

The father is supposed to fulfil the purposes of his pecu- 
liar relation, and to stand in his place the prophet, the priest, 
and the ruler of his household. He is supposed to concen- 
trate his authority, strength, and official influence for the 
purposes of grace ; to command his household after the 
Lord, and trust the life-giving promise ; to lead the way in 
the act of dedication ; and finally, to exercise such faith, 
that though his wife disbelieved, neglected, and opposed, 
his purpose would be fixed to establish the order of his 
house on the principles of consecration, Abraham, Isaac, 
and Jacob, Job, and Joseph, were such fathers. Such is 
presumed to be the character of every Christian bishop, 
and through him as an exemplar of every Christian father. 
Such, therefore, is supposed to be the situation of the mo- 
ther, wherever the covenant is completely recognized in a 
family. Suppose the mother to be decidedly pious, like 
the mother of John, of Jesus, or of Timothy. Then we 
have the covenant model for the domestic constitution. 

Is it yours, my Christian sister, thus to be situated ? 
Then you have reason to weep for joy, when you study 
the gracious covenant. You have presented a son or a 
daughter to that father. In his guardianship the heart con- 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



137 



fides. You know that he will bear that child to the throne 
of grace ; that all the tenderness of your heart may be en- 
listed in its behalf, unchecked, unchilled, unimpeded. Nay, 
that you cannot better meet his strongest wishes, nor even 
otherwise satisfy his most cherished expectations, than by 
giving unrestrained activity to every holiest impulse, and 
baptizing every child with the gushing emotions of a believ- 
ing mother. To you, how strong, how thrilling, how inex- 
pressibly precious is this ordinance, in its holy claims and 
blessed assurances. The seal of God that is placed upon your 
child, is a memorial of mutual love, to strengthen with 
mighty motives your marriage vows and Church relations. 
It binds you both to the child, to each other, and to the 
Church of God. With this threefold cord it binds the child 
to the provisions of grace. How enrapturing must be your 
communion with your husband over the child of your vows ! 
Often does it resemble that of Zechariah and Elizabeth at 
the consecration of John. They did not doubt that John 
would be born again. Why may not your joy also be full 1 
They had a promise, so have you. They walked in all 
the ordinances of the Lord blameless, so should you. They 
felt in their souls that the promise could never fail ; and 
you may, if you believe and live like them, enjoy the same 
assurance respecting the great promise, I will be thy God, 
and Ihe God of thy seed. Only believe, and thou shalt see 
the salvation of God. 

If, however, you are impenitent, faithless, and neglect- 
ful ; if you grieve your pious husband by your coldness, 
worldliness, vanity, and evil temper ; if you manifest aver- 
sion to all spiritual religion ; if you thwart rather than en- 
courage his household plans, your criminality is appalling. 
You are guilty of perverting all those strong and tender in- 
fluences which God has blended with the maternal relation, 
of wrenching away the spiritual interests of the child from 
12* 



138 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



the endeavors of a believing father, by defeating his efforts 
and counteracting his example. There is one who will 
avenge that neglected group when he maketh inquisition 
for blood. He will mark your case as one of extreme 
guilt ; for he has said, Can a mother forget ? It would be 
enough, if, in any circumstances, you had spiritually de- 
serted your child ; but what will the unsleeping guardian 
of the covenant say to that mother, who, when her husband 
hath borne the child into the secret place of the Most High, 
will not let it abide under the shadow of the Almighty ? O 
there is a spiritual savageness in the laugh of a worldly, 
heartless, and skeptical mother, which is enough to make 
one shudder ! All the eloquent tones of a mother's love ; 
all the tenderness of a mother's caress ; all the outgoings 
of the maternal heart are fraught with poison for the soul 
of her child, if she has no fear of God, no regard for reli- 
gion. If you have made the profession, it does not relieve 
the difficulty, while you retain a character adverse to your 
profession. Who is not shocked when woman commits her- 
self to hardihood in sin, or in skepticism. An infidel mo- 
ther is regarded, even by the world at large, as a shocking 
monster. How then must she, or any impenitent mother, 
be regarded in the sight of God ! There are many such 
mothers in our land — many pious fathers are grieved at 
heart, at the mournful influence which the mother is shed- 
ding over their consecrated offspring. Her presence, about 
the deep and precious fountains of moral life, seems almost 
like sacrilege. Her touch dries up the early and genial 
impulses of the mind ; her caress stings the soul ; her con- 
stant gaze petrifies the heart. There, in the most sacred 
places of moral being, she daily breathes, and moves, and 
moulds the plastic character of childhood when the father 
is away. The grand deceiver need not concern himself 
as to his prospects in your family, so long as such a mother 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



139 



watches for him, were it not for the covenant with the fa- 
ther. If your children are still living ; if their father still 
prays for them and for you, O come to God ! by all the 
glory of covenant relations ; by all the everlasting traces 
which you will leave on the character of your children ; 
by all the jealous scrutiny of your whole life and influence, 
which will take place at the judgment, come to the mercy- 
seat ! come to the covenant throne ! Kneel down by the 
side of your husband, and break your heart in penitence 
amidst your consecrated children ! 

2. I shall suppose a mother situated in other circum- 
stances — that her husband is impenitent, profane, and un- 
willing to consecrate either himself or family to God. 

Suppose that she, alone yet faithful, going before the 
altar, consecrates her children to the God of her salvation ; 
that she toils day and night to fulfil her vows ; with sleep- 
less vigilance watches to guard them from evil, and to lead 
them in the way of life. As a hen gathereth her brood 
under her wings, so she, under the outspread wings of the 
covenant, gathereth them. Afflicted sister ! Persevere. 
Turn neither to the right hand nor the left. Shrink not 
from the high, and sublime, and glorious station to which 
Providence has lifted thee ! Resolve, that whatever may 
be the father's influence, God shall have that of the 
mother ; resolve to seek continually a double portion 
of covenant grace. Toil on, and murmur not — toil hard, 
and faint not ; and when your soul is wearied, wait on the 
Lord. Pillow your head on the covenant promise, and com- 
fort your heart with the visions of Jacob. Then rising re- 
freshed, shake thyself from the dust, O daughter of Zion ! 
Set up the stone of help, and still toil on. There is one 
that hath said, " I will never leave thee nor forsake thee 
Is your husband willing that you should train the children 
for God? Be thankful for the divine mercy, and be diligent 



140 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



to improve sacredly every capacity you possess for this 
purpose. There is nothing which will sooner affect the 
heart of a father, who has been rightly instructed, than to 
behold his pious wife consecrating the household alone, and 
toiling alone for their spiritual good. He knows who is 
responsible for suffering her to go forth alone. Many an 
impenitent child of the covenant has trembled when thus 
he saw his beloved wife venturing forth to stand in his de- 
serted place. It is, therefore, wicked for any mother to 
defer a public profession, in order that her husband may 
come with her. I could mention several instances illustra- 
tive of the grievous consequences of neglecting duty, and 
of the happy results arising from its faithful performance. 
Is your husband opposed to your household piety, and dis- 
dainful towards religion ? Then guard your temper with a 
double vigilance. Fill your heart with the veriest strength 
of benevolence. Seek his temporal comfort and happiness 
with assiduous concern ; but never yield your religious 
principle ; never forget your vows of consecration ; never 
shrink from doing all your duty to your children. Does 
he use a profane expression in the presence of his wife or 
children ? Let your tears of grief, let the manifest majesty of 
insulted piety seated in your eye and whole demeanor, tes- 
tify against him. Does he inculcate erroneous sentiments in 
his household ? Let your diligent, sure, and heaven-directed 
influence counteract them. Let all a mother's utmost en- 
ergy be so put forth, that no occurrence shall ever be re- 
called in the remorseful remembrances of the dark world, 
to proclaim that your unfaithfulness caused the ruin of one 
child. On the brow of the father alone let that curse be 
written — if it must be written any where. But, O, thou 
woman of God ! like Hannah, let your vows be deep ; sa- 
crifice any earthly interest, chasten into heavenly purity 
every emotion, bear any personal affliction whatever, en- 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



141 



dure all wrong that may be endured without sin ; if so thou 
canst reach the soul of the father ; if thou mayest by any 
means deliver him from going down to the pit ; if even 
when he hath perished thou mayest be able to look up and 
say, Lord, thou knomest that he did not perish through my 
neglect, 

3. Suppose the mother in different circumstances still. 
Suppose that the father is dead — that his pious example has 
ceased to guide, or his impenitent career no more leads 
astray. If God has left you lonely, look at once to him for 
strength, and step forward into the vacant place. His man- 
tie is left with you. The divine providence has made you 
the head of the family, and you must preserve the ordi- 
nances of God in your household. It is your business now 
to minister at the family altar, to instruct the fatherless, and 
to rule with gentle but decisive authority. No widowed 
mother, who has a proper sense of her covenant obliga- 
tions, will ever suffer the fires of the family altar to die 
away because the father is absent, or deceased. Let not 
the fear of your children deter you from doing your duty. 
Act as the covenant requires you to act, and the God of its 
promises will not suffer his faithfulness to fail. 

4. The views presented in this book, call upon mothers 
throughout our land and the world, to arise and address 
themselves to the great work of establishing the gospel for 
all generations. A spirit is abroad, calling upon the priest- 
ess of the nursery to magnify her office. The world may 
treat it with contempt, but there is a power in that voice 
which is not to be mocked. It utters the great truths of 
household consecration ; it works in close affinity with the 
Spirit of God. Numerous maternal hearts are swelling 
under the mighty impulse. The maternal associations re- 
cently formed in our country, and now spreading in Europe, 
are the lyceums of the nursery. They are introducing 



142 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



valuable publications, both volumes and periodicals, to the 
attention of mothers. They are conveying particular in- 
structions to individual mothers, and preparing them for 
their silent but effectual operations. They are magnifying 
the mother's work in her own view ; creating a deeper and 
more powerful interest in the concerns of home ; taking the 
place of the tea party and scandal-retailing visits, of which 
former years complained so much ; and exciting an intel- 
lectual and spiritual interest in the highest welfare of the 
race. These institutions will continue to increase in value, 
and every mother should seek to obtain from them all prac- 
tical aid in her appropriate and important duties. The in- 
stitutions of our own land, dependent as they are and ever 
should be under God, upon the popular will, call loudly 
upon maternal mind to respect in its nursery cares the in- 
terests of the Church and the fates of nations. He that can 
estimate the tendencies of maternal influence may calcu- 
late shrewdly respecting the moral characteristics of the 
next generation. How inconceivably important, then, that 
the principles of household consecration should be graven 
deeply on the heart of American mothers, and of Christian 
mothers every where, and on maternal affection universally. 
This is an object most commanding in its importance, and 
if those principles are true, he that shall contribute essen- 
tially to elevate maternal mind to grasp them in their ma- 
jesty, and apply them in their power, will do no mean ser- 
vice for the humau race. Future generations will revere 
his name, and his posterity shall be blessed. 



CHAPTER XV. 



Practical reflections. Application of these principles to the consecrated 
children of the Church. 

The natural order of thought now introduces me to the 
consecrated youth of the Church. I trust that many of you 
will seriously weigh the suggestions which I am about to 
make. It has often been my privilege to kneel by the side 
of parents while they have gathered their consecrated 
households at the family altar. The forms of many youth 
are present to my mind, for whom I have heard the be- 
lieving father pray, in the language of promise-trusting 
faith. The forms of many children are present, on whom, 
in the hour of baptism, the tears of believing parents have 
fallen, almost mingling with the sacred water. Many such, 
I have reason to believe, will read these pages. For them 
and for every baptized child who shall read and consider 
these truths, I feel a deep and thrilling interest. Let me 
hope that every such reader will consider himself personally 
addressed. The first thought which I desire you to re- 
alize, is, 

1. That this ordinance of household consecration has 
created very interesting connections between you and the 
Church of Christ 

Have you understood the nature and value of this con- 
nection ? Consider with ichom it is formed : The Church 
of Jesus Christ ! And what is the Church ? The invisible 
Church is that vast company of the regenerated, gathered 
from all ages and nations, which will finally meet in one 



144 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



general assembly at the right hand of God. The visible 
Church consists of all those who profess to be among this 
number, and who unite in the regular observance of Chris- 
tian worship. The moral grandeur of the Church, visible 
and invisible, is overwhelming. She is to constitute that 
channel through which the river of divine manifestation will 
flow forever. Through her appointed ordinances, she ex- 
hibits the glory of God on earth, and preserves the honor 
of his name from age to age. The presence of God is 
within her, as in the unconsumed yet burning bush of Ho- 
reb. There, as in a world created for the purpose, God 
exhibits the deep things of his own nature to the universe, 
not in its childhood only, but in its maturity. It is, indeed, 
a new creation, in which he has wrought the indestructible 
evidences of his triune existence, and his utmost moral 
glory, as he has into the material creation wrought the 
bright but perishable evidences of his being, and of his 
original perfections. This building of God, this new crea- 
tion, will live and breathe forth that surpassing glory, and 
glow with the unconsuming presence which fills it when all 
the cords of the material creation shall be unstrung, and all 
its light and majesty shall have rolled away. There the 
peculiar and mysterious mode of the divine existence is 
incorporated as a perpetual and vital truth, revealed not in 
word only, but in the commemorative monuments of divine 
workmanship and intellectual transformation. There the 
Father shines in the spiritual law ; there the Son in the pre- 
cious atonement ; there the Spirit in his high office work, 
moulding into the image of God, for eternity, the hearts of 
fallen men, regenerating, sanctifying, and eventually per- 
fecting his spiritual workmanship, the active, living temple of 
ransomed mind. There, in the union, harmony, and per- 
petual combination of all the rays of truth which issue from 
the revealed character of Jehovah, the Church, the one 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION* 145 

body of Jesus Christ, proclaims the unity, as well as the 
fulness of the Godhead. Subordinate to these prominent 
features of the new creation, the natural perfections of God 
are all furnished with intenser radiance than they can ever 
gather from the natural operations of providential agency* 
Not in all the living tokens of a present God, with which 
nature is clothed* does his energizing omnipresence so 
shine, as in the fruits, and flowers, and garniture of quick- 
ened mind, bursting all around us into life, and assuming the 
freshness of immortal beauty ; not in all the majestic ope- 
rations of the laws of nature, or of providence, linking in 
one perpetual chain the events of ages, or of moral govern- 
ment, uttering its thunders in the ear of individual guilt, or 
paralyzing with its shock rebellious nations : not in either 
or all of these does the omnipotence of God so gleam forth, 
as when it touches the immortal soul in the very place of 
free and decisive moral action, and preserving moral agency 
unimpaired, certainly and efficiently transforms it from the 
bitterness of supreme hate into the rapturous friendship of 
eternal love. Corresponding with these views, the moral 
perfections of Jehovah have also located in the very con- 
stitution of the Church their mightiest and sublimest exhi- 
bitions. Never, any where else, but in the foundation and 
in the several compartments of this building, could justice, 
in her most unsullied purity and most terrible frown, meet 
with mercy in her extremest tenderness, and most effectual, 
unrestrained outgoings of forgiveness ; meet, not in tolera- 
tion merely, but in lustre mutually enhanced and in fellow- 
ship, bursting forth with mutual rejoicings, and in one song, 
at the name of Jesus. Finally, that glorious development 
of the intellect and the heart of Jehovah, which shall over- 
awe, elevate, and gladden the holy universe forever, is made 
through the Church, wrought into the Church, hung in 
folds of light about her> preserved in all the progress of her 
18 



U6 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



growth in time, and shall be evolved yet more and more 
forever. Thus will the confirmed Church, as she holds on 
her shining and eternal course, constitute the galaxy of 
divine glory in the spiritual heavens. On her path thus 
radiant, suspended worlds will gaze ; on her history thus 
evolved, a thoughtful universe will dwell, and will open 
itself forever to these grandest manifestations of the triune 
God. While through" the Church the moral glory of Je- 
hovah is thus developed, there is, moreover, in her spiritual 
guardianship, life, safety, peace : in her deep communion 
of consecrated mind, that fellowship for which the human 
spirit thirsts. Its present interruptions warn us of its real 
value ; its future perfection is the richest, loftiest reward to 
which immortality can aspire. The connection which 
binds you as consecrated youth to this community is there- 
fore of a most elevated and interesting nature. It rejoices 
my heart when I think how many of the dear children of 
the Church are now members in full communion, having 
sought her fellowship, acknowledged her claims, and devoted 
themselves to the covenant God. Often have I seen them 
approach, with humble but joyous aspect, to confess their 
guilt in rejecting so long the claims which were placed upon 
them in their childhood, and in voluntary covenant to 
avouch the God of their parents' faith and of their infant 
years, to be their God forever. To all such, this connec- 
tion has resulted in its gracious design ; its legitimate ten- 
dency is made known. It is yours, therefore, to feel and 
exhibit its value. Your present membership should lead 
you to grateful recollection of your covenant God, in his 
early care, and your piety should be as eminent as your 
advantages have been distinguished. To that consecrated 
youth who has never consented to the terms of life, this 
connection speaks with unutterable tenderness and solem- 
nity. It unfolds to you the overwhelming grandeur of the 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



147 



Church in the most persuasive manner. It has taken that 
great name, which she wears as her crown of glory, and 
has sealed it upon your brow. It has publicly separated 
you from the world, and set you apart as the devoted pro- 
perty of Christ. It has placed you in the courts of the 
Lord's house ; commanded for you the full exercise of pa- 
rental faith ; sanctified for your eternal welfare the deepest 
emotions of human nature, and spread the majesty of the 
spiritual world around the minutest concerns of home. To 
place you in these circumstances, the God of grace has 
controlled the winds and waves of ages, long before your 
birth, invested the very beginnings of your existence with 
the most solemn pledges. He did not give your soul to the 
charge of the Pagan, the Mahometan, or the Jew ; to the 
murderous parentage of the infidel, the thoughtless, or the 
vicious. He hath rocked you in the cradle of faith, and con- 
signed you first to the parity of regenerated love. The 
first token of affection which saluted your cheek was from 
sanctified lips, and the first breathings of music which came 
over your soul were the songs of the Lord. The justice 
of the claim so tenderly asserted, you will not deny ; the 
right of God thus early to assert it, is perfectly clear ; and 
now let me ask, is not his tender mercy thus revealed to 
your soul, most affecting, most astonishing ! What, did he 
begin so early to bind you with the cords of love ? Did he 
so soon build a hedge about you to shelter you from the de- 
stroyer ? Did he let your parents into his spiritual king- 
dom, and then reveal its glories to them that so they might 
unfold them to you ? Did he require them both to promise, 
before all his people, that they would do all in their power 
to prepare you for his presence ? Did he mercifully pro- 
mise to bless their exertions, and crown their labors with 
success ? Has he placed upon them his mild and spiritual 
seal, and placed the same seal also upon you ? When your 



148 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



parents have almost fainted, hath he strengthened ; when 
they forgot their covenant vows, hath he forgiven ; and 
when you have resisted their faithful warnings, hath he 
still waited ; pursued vou with the kind invitation ; soften- 
ed you with the dew of his Spirit, and rebuilt around you 
again and again the enclosures of his everlasting covenant ? 
O consecrated youth ! child of the Church ! what bitter 
enmity to God is that which starts away from these ad- 
vances of grace ! which rends those silken cords of mercy 
asunder ! Look up and behold the ineffable grandeur of 
the Church ; consider that precious connection which makes 
thee an object of intense interest to those venerable forms, 
yet detained from those higher glories, that yet they may 
linger, and weep, and plead with thee. O let them hear 
thy voice, thou who hast long rebelled against the holy 
baptismal claim, thou who hast madly striven to erase the 
name of God from thy forehead : O before that last linger- 
ing form shall pass away, let thine heart speak out, M Thy 
people shall he my people, and thy God my God" 

2. The consecrated children of the Church must give 
account at the judgment seat of Christ for the manner in 
which this interesting connection is treated 

Interesting as this connection is, it can never save you, 
unless you actually give yourselves to Christ. The great 
question is now placed distinctly before you. As yet you 
are debarred from the communion of saints. That very 
state of mind which calls for your exclusion now, will as 
certainly demand it in eternity. On account of the ten- 
derness of this connection, your long resistance of God's 
mercy will appear infatuated depravity. If you have lightly 
esteemed these noble advantages hitherto, we beseech you 
to pause and consider in what manner you can finally meet 
the rejected God of the covenant. How terrible, if turning 
your back upon the claim of God when presented in mercy, 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION, 



149 



you shall be compelled to meet it in the frown of insulted 
justice and avenging retribution. With what plea can the 
favored son of the Church approach the throne, who has 
lived and died impenitent ? What wilt thou say, O child of 
many tears ! O son of many vows ! when he shall punish 
thee ? How will that violent breaking away from covenant 
kindness seem to angels? How will it seem to many a 
lost soul who never enjoyed such advantages? How will 
it appear to thine own soul in the scorching meditations of 
the pit ? How will thy restlessness under salutary restraints, 
thy pride under parental admonitions, thy rashness amongst 
so many interests that hung trembling around thee, how 
will all this appear in those terrible scenes of despair? 
Pause, now, and prepare to meet thy God ! When infidelity 
assaults, think of this connection. It will be time enough 
for thee to become an infidel when thy case is utterly hope- 
less. When vice allures, think of this connection. Shall 
the child of such lofty hopes descend to vicious indulgence ? 
Canst thou, like Esau, like Saul, like Absalom, turn away 
from love, and mercy, and life ? Canst thou bitterly, darkly 
perish in thy violent rebellion ? Wilt thou not from this 
time cry unto God, " My Father ! thou art the guide of my 
youth." Wilt thou not yield to those choice influences 
which issue from the consecrated affection of the Church, 
and are shed around thy soul ! which are mingled with all 
the deepest, strongest, priceless sympathies of the domestic 
constitution? Repent of all thy sin ! Press in while the 
door is open ! Give thine eternal all to the Father, the 
Son, and the Holy Ghost ! Then shall thy name be inscri, 
bed on the same bright page, where stand written together 
thy father's and thy mother's. Then shalt thou, also, b§ 
carried by angels into Abraham's bosom. 

13* 



CHAPTER XVI. 



Practieal reflections. Duties of the Churches. Consecration, with 
special reference to the ministry. Conclusion. 

The discussions which have engaged our attention sug» 
gest a^few concluding thoughts respecting the duties of the 
Church. 

1. The ordinance of household consecration should be 
practically regarded according to its real importance. 

In these times of revolution and of storm, the subject of 
family religion must be set forth prominently among the 
great concerns of the Church. While the walls of Zion 
are built rapidly and high, they must be cemented well and 
firmly founded. The vital power of household piety is 
essential to the stability of our times ; for, without this, our 
moral bulwarks will be worthless. This power can be 
ensured, enhanced, and completely developed, only by the 
principles of household consecration. In the valuable work 
of Anderson on the Domestic Constitution, the persons 
whom he eulogizes, as monuments of its moral power, were 
nearly all — probably all — consecrated to God in childhood 
on the principles of the covenant. This fact is the more 
impressive, as the selection was made without recognizing 
the presence of infant dedication. The history of such 
households as were formed under Cotton Mather, Philip 
Henry, and Thomas Scott, should be familiar to the 
Churches. If the Church wishes for more such men as 
Matthew Henry, she can thus understand in what manner 
they are to be nurtured. 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



151 



2. The ministry must give this ordinance a prominent 
place in their official performances. 

The pastors of the Churches will be held responsible 
for their manner of treating this subject. That pastor who 
shall avail himself of the aid which this divinely established 
institution is able to afford, may gather about him an army 
of living preachers, who will direct the holy streams of the 
sanctuary into the open channels of communication with 
millennial ages. If the ministry will perform their whole 
duty in prayer, in preaching, and in family visitation, the 
Churches will soon be awakened, and the energies of this 
institution will be fully appreciated. 

3. The application of these principles must be extended 
more thoroughly to servants and other permanent members 
of the household. Where the connection is transient, the 
head of the family is bound to direct, instruct, and guide in 
the way of life. So far as their spiritual welfare is con- 
cerned, : all the transient servants and members of the family 
have a right to his prayers, watchfulness, and patriarchal 
interest. He ought never to introduce those into his house- 
hold who will not honor the institutions of family religion. 
A servant, whether Catholic or Protestant, should never be 
allowed habitually to refuse attendance at the family altar. 
Where the connection is expected to be permanent, as in 
the adoption of orphans and other children as our own, as 
in the taking of poor children to remain for years as do- 
mestics, they should be consecrated to God on the principles 
of the covenant. This was the case in the household of 
Abraham. This was the manner in which the connection 
between master and servant was guarded, sanctioned, and 
blessed, under the ancient dispensation. It was a voluntary 
connection, when not a penal infliction — was formed for 
mutual benefits, and hallowed by religious vows. If these 
principles were duly recognized, very different would be 



152 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



the condition of poor servants in most families, even of the 
Church. The domestic relations of a free country would 
be blessings to thousands of those who otherwise would die 
without instruction. Were the principles of household con- 
secration thus to prevail in the Church, the spirit of slavery- 
would be forever banished from her borders. Even Abra- 
ham, holy as he was, could not be entrusted with the mild 
authority which he exercised over his servants, without be- 
ing required to give a most solemn pledge for their pious 
education. 

4. Churches should take special care that the meaning 
of this ordinance be fully explained to her consecrated chil- 
dren. For this purpose, the pastor and officers of the 
Church should directly and frequently meet with the chil- 
dren. For this purpose, the manner in which this duty is 
discharged by every parent should be especially investi- 
gated. A full apprehension of its real import would exert 
a most salutary influence on the minds of the children. A 
consciousness that the children understood it would power- 
fully affect the parent. 

5. The Churches must exercise a peculiar care over 
their baptized children. The nature of their relationship 
is such, that they are to be considered as the lambs of the 
flock. In this ordinance God has erected around them a 
railing of defence, and has charged his Church not to aban- 
don them to the prowling wolves. So long as they refuse 
to believe, the Churches must not admit them to the com- 
munion, nor in this sense consider them as members. Nei- 
ther, while they thus remain, is it best, in any sense, to call 
them members, as this application of the term leads to con- 
fusion. Yet the connection which they do sustain requires 
just such a system of discipline as shall at once most cer- 
tainly exclude them from the communion until they are 
really pious, and most powerfully hold them around her 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



153 



altars so long as any hope of their conversion remains, and 
most speedily prepare them for a free and full admission. 
Therefore, let convincing evidence of regeneration be de- 
manded, as essential to membership ; let them be admon- 
ished through their parents, and pursued with entreaties, 
however far they may wander ; let them never be given 
up, till they are utterly beyond our reach : and finally, let 
their early conversion be sought, as the legitimate object 
of faith, and the most obvious design of their consecration. 
When a family of consecrated children generally grow up 
impenitent, and madly break away from religious restraint, 
let diligent inquiry be made of their parents respecting their 
household regulations, and the question, " Is there not a 
cause V be urged home upon the conscience. In this man- 
ner a rigorous discipline, of the most tender and appropriate 
nature, should be maintained, and embrace in its supervi- 
sion the lambs of the Church. 

6. There is one more duty which demands considera- 
tion at the present crisis. I refer to infant consecration, 
with special reference to the gospel ministry. There are 
several reasons why this practice, which now to some ex- 
tent exists, should be generously encouraged. The nature 
of all genuine consecration of infants to God implies a cor- 
dial consent, on the part of parents, that God should take 
any or every son for the sacred office. There are many 
parents who have publicly dedicated their sons, and are 
unwilling that Christ should call them into the ministry, or 
send them on a mission. They are overcome with the 
temptations of the world, with the prospect of acquiring the 
fortunes and the fame which it offers. They are averse, 
especially, to give the noblest of the flock for his sacred 
service. Let the Church lift aloud her warning voice 
against this parental invasion of her Master's claim, Le* 



154 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



her denounce it as sacrilege. Let her read aloud to such 
parents the story of Ananias and Sapphira. 

The nature and privileges of the covenant encourage this 
special consecration. We have seen that the promise of 
the covenant is large, extensive, and inviting to the highest 
exercise of faith. There is ample room for this enlarged 
desire to glow and burn freely within it. Now, if the be- 
lieving parents, gazing on their son, feel that nothing would 
so fill their hearts as to behold him an eminently devoted 
minister, let them mingle that feeling in the act of conse- 
crating faith, let them breathe with it freely in the very 
atmosphere of the covenant. 

This special consecration is encouraged in the ancient 
history of the Church, 

The consecration of the tribe of Levi to the priesthood, 
the special consecration of the first-born, the voluntary de- 
dication of Samuel by his mother, and the sublimer dedica- 
tion of John and of Jesus to their exalted destination, cer- 
tainly invite the Church of the present age to the frequent 
exercise of this precious privilege. 

Farther encouragement is afforded in the biography of 
many eminent ministers. The number of such men who 
have been consecrated to God in childhood, with special 
reference to the ministry, would surprise any one who had 
not maturely considered the subject. I need but mention 
the names of Buchanan, Newton, Hooker, Swartz, Mills, 
Rice of Virginia, Summerfield, and Thomas Spencer. The 
early history of Buchanan and Newton must have tried 
exceedingly the faith which had especially devoted them to 
the sacred office. What memorable energy must have 
been lodged in that covenant grasp which lifted Newton 
from shameful debasement, and recalled the wandering 
Buchanan from vagrancy and ruin, which made their feet 



f 



HOTlSfiiiOLD CONSECRATION. 



155 



like hinds' feet, and caused them to walk on the high places 
of Zion. The Church will forever rejoice in consequence 
of that parental faith which gave these men to Christ, and 
to the ministry of his Church, in early childhood. The 
biographer of Summerfield remarks that, "previously to 
the birth of this child, his father has been frequently heard to 
say, there was nothing that he desired more in early life 
than that he should have a son, that that son should be a mi- 
nister of the gospel, and that his name should be called John, 
and at the time of the birth of this babe his father solemnly 
dedicated him to the work of the ministry." The interesting 
statement presents before us the very principle which lies 
at the foundation of all consecration— faith on the part of 
the parent, in the gracious promise of God, strong, enlarged, 
cheerful, and active. God has thus invited his friends to 
come, and present their choicest gifts before his altar. The 
plan of God's grace solicits from the believer the fullest 
confidence and the noblest aims and efforts. In accordance 
with these invitations, the believing parent, assured that God 
will receive him graciously, may come boldly to the throne, 
especially, when his object is to glorify the Saviour, 
through the services of his children f and when he feels that to 
behold his son a faithful minister of the cross, would be his 
highest joy, he may know both from the promise, and from 
the history of the Church, that God will not Upbraid him. 

This practice commends itself moreover to the Church 
by its intrinsic propriety. 

Where the parental faith is vigorous, and the conse- 
cration is sincere ; where the believer hath gone up into 
the higher resources of the covenant, and feels himself an» 
ointed with its peculiar power, so that he may place his in- 
fant son in his Saviour's arms, and rejoice in th e light of 
his countenance ; he is prepared to enter upon the steady 
prosecution of the purpose which this consecration implies* 



156 



HOUSEHOLD CONSECRATION. 



That a consecrated son of the Church, who should enter the 
ministry, through such a process of special and definite 
training, would be surrounded with unwonted advantages, 
is abundantly manifest. To the considerations already ad- 
duced, we may finally suggest, that the increasing demand 
for ministers powerfully urge this practice upon the atten- 
tion of the Churches. On this point it is unnecessary to 
dwell. The necessities of the world, the straitened opera- 
tions of the Church, send forth an exceedingly earnest cry 
for men, good men, and many men. They have appealed 
to our pious youth, and are appealing still. This appeal 
must reach, not the youth only, but the parents. It must 
pass through the outer courts. It must be lodged upon the 
altar. 

The Church of Christ, in this age of moral conflict, needs 
the inexhaustible resources of this gracious covenant. 
These supplies, so ample, so glorious, are the purchase of 
her Saviour's blood ; the gifts of his mediatorial throne ! 
Let them neither be wasted nor lightly esteemed. The 
blood must be sprinkled upon the door-posts of Israel, be- 
fore the Church shall escape from Egypt. She must write 
" Holiness to the Lord" upon her children, if she wishes to 
behold it written upon all things ; in the spirit of consecra- 
ting faith she must stand forth. She must descend upon 
the vales of the nineteenth century to battle. She must en- 
large the place of her tent ; she must extend its cords. 
She must drive down her stakes amidst the deep principles of 
truth, and make them strong. Then when she consecrates her 
offspring to God, she will feel that approaching generations 
are looking on — then every fresh conquest will be hailed as 
another pledge of universal triumph — that triumph, thus 
gained, shall thus be secured ; and the rainbow of the cove- 
nant shall be glorious when the morning breaketh, and 
paradise is regained. 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS, 



Delivered in the Central Presbyterian Church, Broome-street, New- York, 
before the New- York City Maternal Association, at their Annual 
Meeting, March, A. D. 1836. 

The spirit of the age demands the discussion of those 
great principles which lie at the foundation even of old and 
venerable institutions. These principles, as they are roused 
up, take strong hold of the public mind. They force the 
prevailing maxims of the Church and the world into fiercest 
conflict. They are impelling the interests of both towards 
their final junction. 

It is delightful in this war of principles, to behold some 
veteran truth shake itself from the mountainous rubbish of 
centuries, and break forth to grapple with the moral Hydras 
of this and of former ages. The soldier of the truth, the 
champion of the right, the heaven-entitled defender of the 
faith, must have intimate communion with these permanent 
principles of all times and places. Only thus can he acquit 
himself worthily in these present and approaching conflicts. 
He must look deeper intothe elements of human nature, 
and into the divine provision for their control, than simply 
to wonder at its earthquakes, or analyze the ruin of its 
eruptions. 

The leaders of the Church and of the State must descend 
below the surface of public opinion. They must detect those 
latent energies which lie around the roots of the mountains. 
The necessity which is thus devolved upon us in our civil 
and ecclesiastical relations, has intruded itself into the do- 
14 



158 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



mestic constitution. It is useless, with the hand of imbe- 
cility, to wave it back. The Spirit of God, who broodeth 
over the moral abyss, is summoning these giant principles 
of truth to abandon their cloisters, to disencumber them- 
selves of unadapted armor, for the purpose of returning 
defeat for defiance to the champions of sin. He calls to 
the first principles of religious truth, of civil government, of 
the domestic constitution. He bids them come forth, and 
they will come. The purity and enlargement of the Church ; 
the defence of inalienable civil rights ; the salvation of do- 
mestic interests in the present and in future generations, 
demand their presence. Every principle of man's highest 
life, and of God's holy cause, will hear that summons. 

Since, therefore, the great truths of the family compact 
must be roused, it is the duty of every parent to compre- 
hend them, to appreciate them, spiritually, in their bear- 
ings, both upon the kingdoms of men and the kingdom of 
God. Now, if ever, should the Christian parent acquit 
himself well. Now, if ever, should he understand what 
power of self-preservation, of commanding, far-reaching 
influence, God hath wrought into the relations of home. 
Now, if ever, should he comprehend what God has done in 
his gracious covenant to apply that power for the renova- 
tion of the world. Without such understanding, no parent 
can be completely furnished for the responsibilities which 
are rolled upon him. As it is important that the truth of 
this position should clearly appear, I solicit your considera- 
tion of the following sentiment : 

That an enlightened and spiritual faith in the provisions 
of the Abrahamic covenant is essential to the perfection of 
the parental character. 

In contemplating this proposition, we shall consider its 
application to the father and the mother in their respective 
relations. 



A DDRESS TO PARENTS. 



159 



That the faith of which we speak is an essential qualifi- 
cation for the father, is manifest, 

1. From the fact, that without it no father can fully ap- 
preciate the moral grandeur and resources of the domestic 
constitution. 

That this constitution has much to do with the temporal 
welfare and civil history of man ; much with the forma- 
tion of character ; much with man's spiritual and highest 
good, is a fact with which the philanthropist, the philoso- 
phe r, and the Christian are well acquainted. Should not 
its resources, therefore, be thoroughly understood by the 
father, its natural head and responsible agent? Who 
would appoint one to manage the movements of a steamboat, 
who was entirely ignorant of its mighty enginery, or to 
superintend the concerns of a large manufactory, who knew 
not the power of its machinery or the value of its produc- 
tions ? Who would commit an extensive mercantile esta- 
blishment to one unacquainted with mercantile transactions 1 
Who would elect a president over this nation, who under- 
stood neither the magnitude of her interests, nor the nature 
of her institutions ? 

The importance of a thorough acquaintance, on the 
part of the father, with the great moral designs and re- 
sources of that constitution which he is to administer, will 
not be questioned. That an intelligent and spiritual faith 
in the Abrahamic covenant is essential to that thorough 
acquaintance, will be not merely questioned, but promptly 
denied. I ask, however, your candid consideration of this 
one inquiry : What the provisions of that covenant have to 
do with the domestic constitution ? 

The God of the Abrahamic covenant was himself the 
author of the family state. Through that covenant he has 
revealed the grand original design of the institution. It 
was the promotion of holiness, through perpetual time, by 



160 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



means of moral influence. It was, after the fall, the reco- 
very of a train of generations from the progress of eternal 
degradation. It was to gather, even from the appalling 
spectacle of the tendency of evil influence on a course of 
generations, lessons of most impressive admonition for the in- 
tercourse of unnumbered worlds in ceaseless ages. It was to 
improve all its inherent energies for the loftiest purposes of 
grace. 

In the administration of this design, he hath lodged in 
these household scenes the germs of the mightiest provi- 
dential revolutions with which the human race has ever 
been affected. 

He rolled over the world the waters of the flood, and 
swept away every ungodly family ; he called Abraham 
from the idolatry of Chaldea, and promised him a numerous 
posterity, and the land of Canaan ; he nourished that 
posterity even in the land of Ham, even in Egyptian bon- 
dage, until they multiplied to millions ; he gathered those 
millions around the base of Sinai, for the promulgation of 
his law ; he secured a long succession of sentinels for its 
safe transmission ; cast up a highway of holy generations 
for the advent of the Messiah, and spread over the regions 
of depravity a soil which should absorb for its moisture the 
descending dews of the Spirit. 

The action of the covenant upon the natural ingredients 
of the family constitution, has extended the chain of gra- 
cious designs through all the periods of time, and anointed 
each link with their living energy. It has prepared from these 
domestic elements the sublimest monuments of mercy, and 
by contrasting these with the natural results of family influ- 
ence, perverted, misemployed, debased, he has revealed, as 
majestic beacons to all ages, most remarkable specimens of 
avenging justice. It has poured grandeur over the whole 
system of household intercourse ; it has connected the least 



-ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



161 



of its concerns with the concerns of the Church ; it has 
subordinated its main design to the main design of the 
Church ; and wherever the grace of that covenant has 
entered a house, to be greeted with welcome, and there wel- 
comed to abide, it has transcribed the genealogy of its ages 
into the Lamb's book of life, and preserved the story of its 
fireside for the instruction of angels and the admiration of 
worlds. 

It has brought down to the father promises full of grace 
and truth, full of life, inexhaustible wealth, and hereditary 
glory. 

Moreover, it has drawn upon the relations which are 
woven into its constitution, as upon a canvass, the linea- 
ments of its spiritual kingdom. It has taken the relation 
between husband and wife to illustrate that between Christ 
and his Church ; between parent and child, to illustrate that 
between God and the believer ; between the children them* 
selves, to denominate those between believers ; between 
master and servant, that between Christ and his ministers. 
Finally, it has taken the family constitution itself, with all 
its combined relations, to illustrate the harmony and bless- 
edness of heaven. 

The father, who believes and rejoices in the covenant, 
will, therefore, regard the domestic relations in their spiritual 
aspect. He will appreciate in his own soul that great pro- 
mise, I will be a God to thee and thy seed after thee. He 
will plead it before God. It is only by this faith, therefore, 
that he can so consecrate the household influence as to meet 
the conditions of the promise. It is only thus that he can 
realize its largeness and inherit its advantages. Is it not 
the rule of mercy, Be it to you according to your faith ?-^- 
Must not faith lean upon a promise ? Then, to believe, 
must not man understand ? If the promise is large, must 
not the faith which meets, honors, inherits it in its fulness, be 
14* 



162 



ADBRESS TO PARENTS* 



also enlarged ? Can a man, then, approach the highest 
attainable blessings for himself, his family, and his posterity 
without this faith ? If not, then can he without it be what 
a father should be ? 

Is it of no moment whether there pass down upon his 
posterity an unfailing river of curses or of blessings ? whether 
the long valley be full of dry bones or of living men 1 — 
Faith in the promise, being thus essential to the blessing, is 
essential both to the performance of the condition and the 
application of the seal. The consecration of our families is 
but the public expression of this faith ; the public avowal 
of a fixed purpose to fulfil these conditions; the public 
sealing over of these immeasurable interests to the faithful, 
ness of a covenant-keeping God. 

Manifestly, then, an intelligent, spiritual faith in the 
Abrahamic covenant, in its promises, terms, and seal, is 
essential to the father, if he would gain for the long suc- 
cession of immortal minds committed to his care the high- 
est possible blessings, if he would elevate to its highest 
moral efficacy the domestic constitution. 

Is he worthy of a father's station who would not do 
this ? Is he qualified for that station who can not do it ? 
Can it be done without faith ? No ! every leaf of grace is 
thus endorsed by the hand of justice : Without faith it is 
impossible to please him. It is here, as elsewhere. He 
that will grasp the promise, and rejoice in the blessing, must 
believe. He who, standing at the head of the family com- 
pact, will develop in view of the world those amazing 
resources of mercy with which the covenant connection 
hath endowed it, must therefore have this faith clearly in 
the understanding, glowingly in the heart. 

2. The truth of this sentiment will be farther manifest, 
from the fact, that without this faith the father cannot lay 
his plans for the regulation of his official conduct on proper 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



163 



principles. His plans of action should be graduated ac» 
cording to the dignity and resources of the state over which 
he presides. He should aim to accomplish all which the 
compact is designed to accomplish. He cannot be expected 
to rise higher than he aims ; his aim, therefore, must be as 
high as the occasion warrants. If, then, unless the father 
shall exercise the faith of which we speak, he will not even 
apprehend the capacities of the domestic constitution, and 
will aim to accomplish only what he imagines it able to 
effect : then, of course, his noblest plans of action will fall 
as far below the mark which he should endeavour to reach, 
as his views do below the moral grandeur of the relation. 

Faith in the covenant, however, will aggrandize all his 
family arrangements. He will form every household plan 
on the principle, that the glory of God, in the spiritual 
welfare of his whole household, shall be its final object. 
He will plan, therefore, remembering that he and all his 
belong to Christ ; that every calculation should be such as 
the living Head himself would sanction ; that his household 
have been especially claimed by the Saviour himself ; that 
on him it rests to instruct them in that claim, and plead with 
them to acknowledge ; that God has certainly promised to 
add the divine blessing to his labors ; that the Sanctifier 
himself has promised, assured success ; and that, finally,, 
from his parental faithfulness that same spirit will bring 
forth a glorious moral influence for ages yet unborn, and 
will send down his own precious grace to a thousand gene- 
rations through the channel thus constructed. 

Thoughts like these must elevate the plans which they 
control. His daily domestic habits ; his choice of the business 
by which he will maintain his children; of the society to 
which he will introduce them ; of the schools in which he 
will educate them ; the personal influence under which he 
will seek to form their character ; the religious ordinances 



164 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



from which he will derive their spiritual impressions ; these 
must all be adopted in conformity with the elevated purpose 
which his faith in the covenant has produced. Thus will 
he be prompted to resolve on that course of conduct which 
shall put the moral resources of the domestic constitution 
to the test, and prove to the utmost the spiritual wealth of 
the everlasting covenant. 

3, That an intelligent and cordial faith in this covenant 
is essential to the father, is manifest from the fact, that 
otherwise the full force of those motives will not be felt un- 
der which God designed to form the parental character. 

The objects of the family compact are so vast, its inte- 
rests so precious, its influence when perverted so terrible, 
that God has in his covenant provided the strongest con- 
ceivable motives, in order to secure the co-operation of the 
father with his own truth and Spirit. For this he gave 
him the companion of his love, entrusted her temporal com- 
fort to his care, blended her earthly interests with his own, 
revealed to him the gracious design, addressed him as an 
intimate friend, promised him persevering grace, provided 
him with strength to defend his household, and with influence 
to do them good, commanded him publicly to devote them as 
really as he had devoted himself, directed him to do it in 
the same form, required a solemn pledge that he would 
treat them as the Lord's, assured him of grace to fulfil his 
pledge ; and, finally, offered him the Spirit's influence, not 
merely for his immediate offspring, but for his remote de- 
scendants. 

What motives can we imagine stronger than these? 
Combining the consciousness of parental authority with the 
tenderness of most intimate love, with the joyousness of 
every bright hope ; blending all a father's with all a Chris- 
tian's emotions ; calling into the service his sincerest vows, 
his most public character, and most noble aspirations ; 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



165 



pledging him personal immortality in heaven, and relative 
immorlality on earth ; and both resulting in multiplied sal- 
vation hereafter. This combination of motives, if it pre- 
vail through his heart, will lift him to a sublime relation- 
ship to all the glories of the Church, and the final develop- 
ments of the Godhead. 

Is it rash now to say, that unless a man believe the co- 
venant from which these motives are drawn, he cannot feel 
their power 1 Can lie rise under their elevating influence 
who doth not apprehend their existence ? By so muGh as 
you diminish a father's faith in the covenant, do you there- 
fore detract from the influence under which the God of the 
covenant designed the character of a father to be moulded, 
polished, and perfected. Thus again we are brought to the 
conclusion, most directly, that this covenant faith is an es- 
sential qualification for every father. 

4. This conclusion is substantiated by the manner in 
which this faith leads him up among the precious promises 
and unlocks to him their inexhaustible treasures. 

The principle by which the believer inherits the object 
of his faith has been already stated. It must respect the 
peculiar promise of this covenant, in order to obtain its pe- 
culiar blessing. His faith will, in its different degrees, 
enable him to ford the stream, according as the waters rise 
to the ankles, or successively to the breast ; will enable 
him to walk on their current when they cannot be passed 
over. The strength of faith shall produce depth of study ; 
and the well-studied promise will react upon the faith, add- 
ing strength to strength, and giving grace for grace. How 
valuable then to the father is this privilege of believing ! 
Since he is thus appointed the spiritual guardian of his fa- 
mily, placed in most responsible circumstances, how rea- 
sonable the expectation, how precious the knowledge, that 



166 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



ample provision is made for all his wants and for every 
conflict. 

Assured of this, let him come boldly to the Spirit's 
throne. Let him study the scope and bearings of this co- 
venant ; the illustrious instances of its might, which the 
history of divine grace unfolds ; and the highest of its hea- 
venly places to which the Church militant may aspire. In 
the lofty honors of the twelve tribes, in the advent of the 
Messiah, in the prosperity of the gospel among the Gentiles, 
in the arm of mercy, which, outstretched still — notwith- 
standing eighteen hundred years of unbelief— even now 
holds every wandering Jewish father, as the ancestor of a 
race of saints ; in the utterance of prophecy, which an- 
nounces restoration for the Jew, and enhanced glory of 
adoption for the Gentile ; he may read the deep — may feast 
on the gracious — things of God. Such studious faith will 
bring the promise home to his own heart, as a thing where- 
of to glory. It will teach, that even for him there is no 
parental good inaccessible to his aspiring toil ; that he can 
neither aim too high, trust too far, nor hope too much, if he 
will aim, and trust, and hope as the covenant guides him. 

His emotions will become stronger, richer, mellower, 
as he follows the meandering of its waters, in the domestic 
scenery which the hand of Providence hath created within 
his own observation. Although few indeed are the fathers 
that have risen to the highest awards of faith, yet there are 
those whose very names are brightened by the unction of 
the blessing so long abiding. The name of Edwards, a 
very mantle for the saints ; of Dwight, the inheritor of its 
holy radiance ; of Mather, and Scott, and Henry, and hun- 
dreds of others well known in the public records of Zion ; 
of multitudes more, well known in the deep, but more obscure 
records of the heart, might be adduced as illustrations of its 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 167 

hallowed sway. It is mentioned in one book as marvel- 
lous, that the children of a man, named above, can reckon 
seven generations of a pious ancestry. Yet why should 
this seem marvellous ? It does not to the enlarged heart of 
covenant faith : a careful examination of household records 
around us would even present many cases not less, nay, 
very many, that are more illustrious. Many indeed are the 
fathers, who, by the strong wrestlings of patriarchal faith, 
have left the power of their example — the accumulating 
interest of their own rich grace, as a glorious legacy for 
successive generations. 

But " thou shall see greater things than these." The 
covenant promise was made by him who predestinated the 
millennium. It was adapted, therefore, to the largeness of 
millennial faith ; its structure was capacious, that so it 
might contain all the interests which the earlier fathers of 
those bright ages may roll into it. As that blessed era 
approaches, the vision of the Church will be enlarged, to 
read, and measure, and enjoy the covenant prospects. The 
ancestry, not remote, of those millennial fathers, is now 
forming. How shall the fathers now on the stage acquit 
themselves honorably towards the coming generations, un- 
less they now take hold of the covenant ? 

It is faith alone which annihilates the distance of many 
generations. Faith places the covenant home by the very 
gate of heaven. It enables the father, who has well com- 
pared spiritual promises with spiritual providences, forming 
his character under these views, and plans, and motives, to 
summon even here, and daily, descending thousands, in the 
assuring visions of promise, around the domestic altar. — 
He may say, as if in their realized presence, Here am I, 
and the children whom thou hast given me. 

We shall now proceed to prove, 

2. That an enlightened and spiritual faith in the Abra- 



168 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



hamic covenant, is essential to the perfection of the mater- 
nal character. The truth of this sentiment, appears, 

1. From the consideration, that the mother is entrusted 
with the charge of human nature in its earliest conditions. 

The introduction of a new immortal to scenes of moral 
accountability — to a ser es of moral feelings and deeds 
which will never end, is the prerogative of the mother. It 
is her voice, that, morning by morning, wakens its softest 
impressions. It is her soul of thought, and tenderness, and 
fire, which first seeks out the hidden sources of moral life, 
and calls up the harmonious energies of existence. 

She can hear the inward chiming of the affections when 
others cannot. She fashions its earliest smile, and dries 
up its earliest tear. She daily governs, originates, diversi- 
fies its earliest plans. She sings the cradle hymn. From 
her lips the child first gains, and best gains, his impressions 
of God, and Christ, and duty, of happiness and heaven. 
From her lips he catches his first idea of the chief end of 
man — the great, the marvellous idea of eternity. 

It is then of vast moment that the heart of the mother 
should be well qualified for this ministry. She should 
clearly perceive the worth of the human spirit, its relations 
to God and its connections with the plan of redeeming 
grace, with the final disclosures of the triune, self-reveal- 
ing God. She should understand correctly, and practically, 
the design of God in trusting such an agent for purposes of 
moral formation in her hands. She hath need to be ade- 
quately apprised how fearful are the elements of depravity 
and the exposures of an immortal nature. All this she 
needs in order to comprehend the full scope of that respon- 
sibility under which she is commissioned to act. This she 
will gain only by a prayerful study of the grand principles 
and design of the covenant. Thus she will perceive how 
the covenant of redemption mingles with the covenant of 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



169 



grace, and how they both make the Abrahamic covenant 
the reservoir for the main body of their waters. Thus she 
can see why the God of the covenant hath set all the 
strength of a mother's love about the moral beginnings of the 
infant mind. Thus will she feel the necessity which is laid 
upon her of rousing to her predestined work all the energies 
of her nature. Thus she will understand why it is that 
when by the very strength of her natural affection, she 
might be tempted to idolatry, God has written in front of 
her, on the brow of her child, This is mine. Why it is, 
that just when she would be tempted to remissness, he has, 
in the ordinance which presents his claim, demanded her 
pledge 1 Why it is that this intense love, thus sanctified 
for glorious purposes, should prompt her to ply all the 
energies of a mother's ingenuity for the spiritual welfare of 
the child. Thus she will comprehend why the son of her 
sorrows should be the son of her vows ; why that same 
wisdom which wrought into her being the elements of in- 
suppressible love, wrought also amidst the scenes of its 
birth the ingredients of the primeval curse. It was, that all 
might know, and that she might feel, most of all, the over- 
whelming value of the soul, and the overwhelming grandeur 
of that relation on which its character and interest are sus- 
pended. 

I ask, now, if the mother can demonstrate her adequacy 
to the mother's work, without a glowing faith in these cove- 
nant truths ? Must she not understand, believe, and feel 
them, in order to walk in the full light, and have the candle 
of the Lord shine with all its own lustre about her taber- 
nacle ? 

2. The faith of which we speak is essential to the mo- 
ther, because her province is peculiarly with the heart. 

To educate the intellect is not peculiarly hers, except 
in early years. To educate the heart, is peculiarly hers, 
15 



170 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



always. The earliest affection in the bosom of an infant, 
which seems like moral affection, is love to the mother. — 
The young being soon begins to feel that relations 
exist between him and the ever present object from which 
his comforts come, in whose smile he reads delight, and in 
whose frown he feels control. Hence, probably, the ear- 
liest feelings of remorse of which children are usually con- 
scious, arise from having grieved a mother, from having 
violated those relations which they most clearly perceive 
and most keenly feel. The happiness of the human spirit, 
through its future moral history, depends on the bestowment 
of its affections. The mother is providentially placed where 
she receives the first outgoings of affection. To that mo- 
ther's caress, the first perceptible and most attenuated 
cords of moral agency are attuned, and the first impulses 
which are to pass down the everlasting current of affection 
issue from it. 

If to these considerations we add the intense energy of 
the maternal love, we shall at once perceive that the mo- 
ther has an access to the heart, which, if subservient to 
evil purposes, is truly terrific, and if consecrated to good, is 
benevolently majestic. Since, therefore, such peculiar 
power is in her hands ; since the pathway to the young heart 
is so familiar to her, that even when the rubbish of age hath 
covered it, and the crimes of life encrusted it, she best and 
often alone can find it ; how important that her affections 
should be spiritualized ; that their first emanations should 
be pure, and their earliest impulses should be holy. How 
important that the great sun of truth should look in upon 
them and form them into a heart of spiritual vigor,-~into a 
fountain of spiritual life. 

Yet what views of truth can so lift up the heart as those 
which the covenant gives. What amazing objects of concern 
it unveils to the vision of faith. What intense power of 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



171 



motives it brings to bear precisely on the point where the 
mother's love and the child's love are linked together. It 
takes the ardent aspirations of the soul, and treasures them 
as blessings for the child. It transforms whatever there is 
sensual, trifling, or vain, in the natural sympathies of the 
relation, into the pure, the elevated, the spiritual. It 
claims all for God, and having connected the welfare of the 
child with the admission of the claim, urges the principles 
of entire consecration deep to the heart, forming that heart 
into correspondence with holiest truth, and reflecting the 
light thus formed upon the open heart of the child. The 
maternal affection, thus ennobled, will become the channel 
of sanctification and spiritual elevation to all other affec 
tions, and will shine most radiant in the family constel- 
lation. 

It is by the affections that men are swayed, character- 
ized and impelled, classed into families, beset with compa- 
nionships, and combined in business. It is by the affections 
that they are deceived, brutalized, and destroyed ; that 
they are converted, sanctified, and glorified ; that they are 
maddened for deeds of shame ; that they are inspired for 
actions of self-denying virtue and benevolent daring. 

The covenant, therefore, placing the great claim of 
God over all man's affection, writes that claim over the 
first throbbings of the infant brow, infuses it into the first 
burning glance or gaze which reveals the mother's heart 
to the heart of the child, and sheds abroad the mellowing 
agency of the Spirit only on the affections. 

How, then, shall the Christian mother advance to th e 
solemn business of living, breathing, moving amidst a circle 
of young, susceptible, and glowing hearts, who hath not 
gained that celestial anointing which deep communion with 
the spirit of the covenant alone can give 1 That mother 



172 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



who hath washed the feet of covenant mercy with her 
tears, who hath revealed her most enshrined love to its 
heart-searching inquiries after idolatrous thoughts, who 
hath devoted her strongest passions and her loftiest energy 
to its grand, its compassionate, its glorious purposes, she 
will feel that the promise of the Spirit which the covenant 
gives, is more precious than all other precious things ; that 
the vital presence of the Spirit is so essential to her fondest 
hopes, that without it she would not dare to leave the print 
of a mother's footsteps along the pathway of domestic affec- 
tion. 

3. This faith in the household covenant is essential to 
the mother, because it unfolds the vast importance of that 
sphere of action which God has assigned to woman. 

Ordinarily, she is not called to scenes where much 
physical strength is requisite, or much public notoriety is 
incurred. She is not expected to appear amidst the bustle 
of the exchange, amidst the strife of public affairs, or the 
severe labors of the shop, or the farm. She is not expected 
to occupy the sacred desk or the hall of legislation ; to plead 
at the bar, or to sit on the throne ; to contend for the prize 
of medical skill or of martial glory. Had she been destined 
for this sphere, God would have endowed her with the 
requisite physical might and intellectual hardihood. There 
have been emergencies, however, when public or private 
necessity has constrained even woman to stand forth as the 
queen of nations and the prophetess of God. 

We do not stay to relate how God hath taught her 
discretion, and used her wisdom to defeat the wise, and her 
feebleness to overcome the strong. But her sphere, her 
own peculiar sphere, is wide and powerful, yet it is diverse 
from all this, for it lies nearest the spiritual world. God 
has stationed her there, that she may grasp the young 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



173 



spirit on its first entrance upon this stormy life, and stamp 
first and deeply upon the early heart just impressions of 
the spiritual world. 

By this means, she may prepare even the son for all 
future scenes of moral conflict. She must remember that 
her beloved boy is to go where she may not go, and that 
where the mother herself is not seen, she will be known 
through her son, and that if his name goes down to pos- 
terity, posterity will inquire after hers; they will inquire, 
not for her name only, but for her character ; they will 
look in upon her nursery ; they will study the peculiarities 
of her temper ; they will connect them with the shame or 
glory of her son. 

The mothers of Samuel, of David, and of John the Bap- 
tist, of Jesus Christ himself, and of Timothy, are known as 
widely as their sons. The mothers of Wesley, and Ed- 
wards, of Dwight, and Doddridge, and a host of others, share 
in the holy eminence of these men of God. The mothers 
of many a tyrant, or profligate writer, or miserable infidel, 
share in another eminence, the eminence of authority abused 
and of genius morally degraded. Faithful biography, that 
tells these stories of the dead to us, will tell the same stories 
to those who shall come after us. She will deal with the 
maternal character of this generation as she has with that 
of the past. In the statuary which she chisels out, she will 
fold it as the everlasting drapery of the figure ; for the 
statue and its drapery are chiselled from the same material. 

Should the Christian mother consecrate her son to some 
high, patriotic, philanthropic, and evangelical labor and of- 
fice, she can do much towards giving the first direction ; 
if she lays hold of the covenant, she can realize the aspi- 
rations of her fondest wishes ; if she will study deeply into 
the import, the history, and the privileges of household con- 
15* 



174 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



secration, though she never will proudly pray like the mo- 
ther of Zebedee's children, she may silently, but effectually 
pray like the mother of Samuel. She will know how in 
the sweet, quiet peace of covenant faith, to " sit at the feet of 
Jesus," and will " ponder these things in her heart" over her 
children, till she can hear *' their angels" whisper, " She 
hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken from 
her." 

There is another peculiarity in woman's sphere, which 
illustrates the value of faith in the covenant. She is espe- 
cially charged with the education of the daughter. When 
her son has gone forth amidst the conflicts of life, the daugh- 
ter is still with her. That daughter should never be obliged 
to apply to novels for the knowledge of human nature, nor 
to hired instructers for the knowledge of manners, nor to 
the heartlessness of fashionable life for ideas of propriety. 
Let the intelligent, watchful, affectionate mother, with the 
Bible in her hand ; with the lessons of experience on her lips ; 
and the impulses of genuine delicacy in her heart : let her 
point to the sources of healthful knowledge, and weave 
into her daily habits the elements of attractive manners. 
Let her apply all the spirituality of the covenant to that 
daughter's affections. Let her gentle persuasion remove 
the vanity, the love of display, the undue curiosity when- 
ever exhibited. 

The faithful mother will not seek to annihilate her daugh- 
ter's vivacity, but to engage it for delightful services of the 
Saviour ; not to chill the warm affections of the mind, but 
to enlist them in whatever is pure, and lovely, and of good 
report. She will impress the mind of the daughter with the 
vast importance of the right use of influence ; explain to 
her the nature of that influence which she will exert ; the 
exposures to which her powers of exciting interest will lead 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



175 



her ; and point her to those grand and elevating purposes 
which the author of all her powers commands her to che- 
rish. 

She, who as a mother sits queen amongst a circle of 
daughters, has a most responsible post; the destinies of 
coming generations are domesticated about the fireside ; the 
interests of unborn ages lie concealed in their toys. It is 
the mother's province to revere those destinies, and to guard 
these interests well. What motives can persuade the mother 
to do this so effectually as those drawn from the bosom of 
the everlasting covenant ? What other truths stamp the 
domestic influences with such living grandeur 1 What 
other sun pours around that hearth such radiance of glory ? 
What other views shed such imperial beauty on the future 
history of a consecrated and pious daughter ? 

There is another item which must not be forgotten. It 
is peculiarly in her power to instruct all her children on 
the subject of forming alliances for life. These instructions 
should be early bestowed, and deeply impressed. Let her 
remember what Rebecca did for Jacob. Let her remem- 
ber what Esau did to grieve Isaac and Rebecca. Let her 
guard her young group against all the devices of Satan : 
instruct them into the nature of the marriage covenant, show- 
ing them what amazing interests it involves, and what au- 
gust connections it originates with the final judgment. Yet 
to do thus she must understand the principles of the cove- 
nant. She must know how that covenant pours its blessings 
on the godly household ; how it admonishes, in all past his- 
tory of the Church, the believing son never to introduce an 
enemy of God, as the head of his family ; the believ- 
ing daughter never to put all her earthly interests under 
the protection of the ungodly, Let her remember the 
story of the flood ; of heart-broken Lot ; of wandering Asa , 



176 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



of miserable Solomon : let her learn the story of her own 
sex in all ages, when the power has been in the hands of 
the unbeliever. 

Be assured, it requires strong faith in the covenant of 
God, for a mother, as the mother is often placed, to perform 
all her duty here, and so to bear the case before the throne, 
that all her own children shall be prepared to profit by 
these warnings, by being themselves early converted. This 
is a consummation which God does often vouchsafe to those 
parents who walk in all the ordinances of the Lord blame- 
less. This is a result which the covenant has provided for 
those in whose hearts its appropriate faith does not fail, and 
its appropriate purpose never wavers. 

May we not, in view of the peculiar sphere assigned to 
the mother, again appeal to that covenant whose provisions 
are adequate to all the necessities of her state, and to all 
the approaches of a correspondent faith. What mother 
would venture into that sphere without taking hold of the 
covenant ? 

4. This faith is essential to the mother, on account of 
the peculiar liabilities of her condition. 

It is oftener the lot of the Christian mother to be asso- 
ciated with an impenitent husband, than of a Christian father 
with an impenitent wife. In some circumstances this connec- 
tion greatly embarrasses her in the discharge of family duty. 
It may, therefore, generally and especially be said of a Chris- 
tian woman, that she needs all the vigilance, and resolution, 
and encouragement, which the full persuasion of covenant 
promises can give her. She needs it, in order that, in the 
hour of temptation, she may cast all her care upon one that 
is mighty : that, when trials thicken, she may gather her 
loved ones under its wings : that, when strength and heart 
faileth, she may renew them both, by fresh application to 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



177 



her abiding place, under the shadow of the Almighty. The 
changes of home come to her with a louder call upon her 
vigor, and create a keener necessity of superhuman aid. 

Suppose her widowed, and surrounded with a group of 
unconverted sons. The father's watchful eye and guardian 
hand no more restrain them. They are in the reckless, 
ness of unmanageable youth, and her voice, though stronger 
in virtuous persuasion than another's, yet needs to be sus- 
tained by the sterner tones of the father. They are silent 
in death. O then, surely, does the maternal heart need to 
cling closer than ever to the Saviour, and lean where the 
beloved disciple leaned, and ask her questions, with all the 
confidence of a sustained and quiet spirit. See yonder 
lonely widow ! She has a son turbulent and unthankful ; 
and though young, far on the road to hell. Every night 
he resorts to the theatre, spending his earnings vilely ; 
while she, with difficulty living, has no power to control 
him. He has no respect for himself or for her. There 
are many such widows in Israel ; and what but a spiritual 
faith in the everlasting covenant can furnish full consola- 
tion to a heart so deeply wounded. 

Suppose that she is called, not thus to break her heart 
over an undutiful son, but herself to bid the beloved circle 
of her children farewell ; leaving them, perhaps, in the 
care of an impenitent, a dissipated, or a skeptical father. 
Then, with what energy of faith does she need to embrace 
the covenant, if she would say, " Now lettest thine hand- 
maid depart in peace, for mine eyes shall see thy salva- 
tion." There is nothing beside this, which can move a 
Christian mother in such a case, so that she may rise up 
to the full dignity of her spiritual relations. 

Yet, in order to this, in both the cases supposed, there 
is a long and previous action of this faith required. It is 
not a kind of faith which is energetic, because roused in 



178 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



some terrible crisis, but that which, by the uniform tenor of 
its efficacy, shall rather prevent the necessity itself; or, 
when it comes, meet it with the calmness of conscious 
strength, and triumph without extraordinary exertion. 
Happy indeed is that mother who so wisely and constantly 
labors for the immediate conversion of her children, that 
no evil day shall take her unawares. For this she needs 
the utmost fulness of the promise ; she must have this faith, 
of which we speak, to herself and before God. She can- 
not in those cases rise to all a mother's moral greatness 
without it. 

Suppose her affected by another change. She is about 
to behold her sons pass out from her immediate control. 
They are to enter the public school, to press forward in the 
bustle and activities of business, to go forth amidst the 
spirits of this world, amidst its fascinations and perils. Her 
eye cannot be upon them, but her heart throbs with pain- 
ful emotions. Then, again, she even fainteth, to rest her- 
self, like the sparrow, by the altars of her God. She must 
strengthen herself for the watchings of faith, by feasting 
upon the truths of that perpetual covenant. It will be well 
for her then if she can say, " Lord, thou knowest I have 
consecrated them to thee ; that from day to day I have 
borne them on my heart ; that I have held fast mine in- 
tegrity before them ; I have trusted in thy word." It 
should be the resolve of every mother so to live, that when 
a son of hers passes out from her presence, amidst spiritu- 
ally perilous scenes, he may go forth an heir of the per- 
sonal promise of unchanging grace. Not till the evidence 
of this is seen should her heart give over. 

The mother of Augustine did right when she implored 
the bishop to 1 exert himself to save her son, until he impa- 
tiently exclaimed, "Begone, woman! the son of such 
prayers and tears can never be lost !" She had reason for 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



179 



this anxiety, and it was this very union of solicitude with 
importuning faith, which constrained her to plead, and 
which brought the blessing. 

That mother did right who, when her son would go to 
the public ball, told him that while he was there she should 
spend the whole time in prayer for his soul. It was the 
earnest action of sincere faith ; and God, who looks at the 
heart, honored it as such, in manifesting his converting 
grace amidst the scenes of mirth, and in returning to her a 
penitent son. 

When the maternal soul, under the impulse of such de- 
termined faith, can take fast hold of the promise, there is a 
sublime energy in its movements on moral subjects, analo- 
gous to that which it ofttimes exhibits when roused by the 
call of temporal necessity, or of pressing danger. Often 
does the historic page cause our hearts to thrill with tales 
of lofty daring, and more than masculine prowess, to which 
the roused soul of woman hath risen in the pressure of some 
terrible crisis. These instances are not confined to that 
portion of mankind who win the renown of history. They 
are constantly occurring in the ordinary ranks of life. A 
poor woman, whose little son had fallen into a deep well, 
which was considered very difficult of descent, even for 
the most experienced foot, saw him rise to the surface of 
the water, and felt that he must be saved then or never. 
Regardless of life, of danger, of all things but her child, she 
went down to the water cautiously — rapidly — caught her 
child — and up the perilous foot-holds of the well, bearing 
him in her arms, she ascended with safety and in triumph. 
How she did this she knew not ; it was the rapid and won- 
drous exertion of a human spirit when all its marvellous 
capacities were concentrated to one point, and borne forth 
into a sublimity of execution surpassing its own comprehen* 
Bion in successive and calmer moments. 



180 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



There are perils of a moral nature, when the mother's 
heart must be awakened to analogous action, or in the deep 
pit of sin the child will be lost. Thanks be to God, that in 
his gracious covenant he has made adequate provision for 
the loftiest movements of parental faith* The soul Which 
will trust and obey that covenant promise may venture-- 
how far ? he hath not said— he hath appointed no bounds — 
but this he hath said, " When thou passest through the wa- 
ters I will be with thee ; and through the rivers, they shall 
not overflow thee : when thou walkest through the fire, thou 
shalt not be burned ; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. 
I will never leave thee nor forsake thee /" Thousands of 
mothers, in all ages, have tried these promises, and have 
never found them to fail ; they trusted in the everlasting 
covenant, and sung of its glory. The Elizabeths and Ma- 
rys of other days have exchanged their glad salutation, and 
mutually exclaimed, " Blessed is she that believed, for there 
shall be a performance of those things which were told her 
from the Lord." 

The considerations on which we have dwelt in this ad* 
dress, have sustained, we trust, the main sentiment which 
it presents, an intelligent and spiritual faith in the Abra- 
hamic covenant essential to the perfection of the parental 
character. 

If this sentiment is true, it ought to be felt. 

It should be felt by all those parents who treat the conse> 
cration of children as chiefly a thing of fashion and display. 
It is painfully true that many parents who present their 
children for baptism, seem to be influenced by no higher 
considerations. The beauty of the child, the elegance of 
its dress, the public annunciation of its name, the compli- 
ance with ecclesiastical fashion, occupy the thoughts, first, 
midst, and always. These motives might influence an infidel 
to present his child, and do influence many nominal Chris- 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS* 



181 



tians. Were the principles of the covenant fully wrought 
into the parental mind and heart, they would forbid such 
unhallowed profanation ; they would banish such ridiculous 
and unworthy motives ; they would consume them by the 
intense flame of consecrating faith. 

It should be felt by all those parents who are influenced 
to observe it by feelings of superstition. There are many 
parents who, if a child is dangerously sick, will be anxious 
to have it baptized, and yet never think of assuming the 
obligations which this ordinance enforces. If the minister 
will baptize it, they think that all is well. They do not 
pretend to exercise any faith themselves, nor feel disposed 
to'perform, in any respect, the conditions of the covenant. 
They have no spiritual apprehension of the Abrahamic 
promise. Were the promise and terms of that covenant 
fully before them, they would not dare to have the sacred 
seal affixed while they had no penitence or faith themselves. 
Were this subject to be presented, with all its claims, to 
parents in such a state of mind, it might produce very pun- 
gent convictions of sin, and lead them to tremble under the 
charge of withholding their own soul from the God to whom 
they in infancy were devoted, and of voluntarily placing an 
insuperable obstacle in the" way of their children's consecra- 
tion. Then it would no more seem like a superstitious rite, 
but it would speak in their heart like the voice of God pleading 
in tones of mercy and of admonition, both for them and theirs. 

It is essentially important that parents in our large cities 
should feel the sentiment of this address. 

You know the peculiar temptations of the city. You 
mourn and tremble when you consider the exposures of 
your beloved children. You often feel as if, like Lot, you 
must gather all the members of your household together, 
and make haste away. All around us is a vast wilderness 
of mind, dark, apostate, ruined. Deadly serpents are coiled ; 

16 



182 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



poisonous waters stagnate ; beasts of prey devour, in these 
moral marshes. O, if any where the strength, authority, 
and tenderness of the parental character should be fully de- 
veloped, it is needful here and now. If any where the father 
should exert all a father's rights, and perform all a father's 
duty, and put the glowing presence of all a father's watch- 
fulness about every domestic interest, it is here. If ever, 
or any Where, the maternal character should shed its most 
hallowed purity around the infant heart, should mingle its 
most transmuting energy among the follies of childhood, 
should extend its strongest, most constraining influence over 
the passions of youth, it is here. Look around the walls 
of Zion. See the vast throng of her consecrated yet im- 
penitent youth suspended over the bottomless gulf. Cords 
of the sanctuary hold them. Restraints of Providence 
hold them. There is an arm put forth ; it grasps with 
the energy of maternal love the cords of the covenant ; it 
is beautiful and slender ; but God hath made it strong.-*- 
Let the arm of the father be stretched forth by its side. 
Let the strong grasp of combined and perpetual parental 
character take hold of those covenant cords, and through 
them take hold of those unwavering interests to which God 
hath fastened them. 

It should be felt throughout the Church of God, because 
it will fire his people with holy zeal to extend the benefits of 
the covenant to all the families of the earth. 

Extend it through this city. Let this faith in the cove- 
nant seek the immediate conversion of the heads of families 
among us. Gain every Christian, and father, and mother, 
into the practical belief of these truths* Enlist them into 
full confidence in the covenant promise, and sincere per- 
formance of the covenant pledge* Appeal to every impeni- 
tent father and mother. Hold up this covenant ! Cry aloud, 
4t Incline your ear, and come unto me ; hear, and your soul 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



183 



shall live : and I will make an everlasting covenant with 
you, even the sure mercies of David." Tell them what the 
sure mercies are. Repeat the great Abrahamic promise ; 
point to the faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God. Make 
every father and mother the full, explicit, glorious proposal, 
" Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, 
and thy house." Do not forget the last three words. Let 
your hearts thrill under the overwhelming interests which 
they include. Press them, in all their original emphasis, 
on the impenitent heart. Give them the additional emphasis 
which the tremendous circumstances of a city population 
require. Rest not — give Him no rest — ye that sigh for 
the abominations that are done in our midst — until the An* 
gel of Israel shall rejoice over one great city ; through 
whose long crowded streets, on every door-post, shall shine, 
The blood of the covenant. 

Remember the many consecrated children which have 
come away from the care of Churches in our country, 
from the guardianship of pious homes, from the watchful^ 
ness of covenant-trusting parents, to enter into the business, 
to conquer or eternally die, amidst the temptations of the 
city. The blood of many such hath already stained our 
streets. The young budding plants of covenant cultivation 
have withered rapidly and mournfully, under the moral in, 
fluence which here assailed them. Search out the early 
history of the young, whom you behold, from week to week, 
approaching this vortex. Receive them to your compas- 
sion, your friendship, your watchfulness, your Christian 
privileges, and your promise-pleading prayer. The cords 
of consecration in the city must be joined with those of the 
country. As the worldly business, intercourse, and infju. 
ences of both amalgamate, so must the prayers, the endea- 
vors, the strong, enduring faith of the Church, throughout 
our cities and our towns, be speedily united. Pledge must 



184 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



extend to pledge ; promise woven in with promise ; prayer 
responded in associate prayer, until the presence of cove- 
nant principles shall be, upon our intermingling nation, uni- 
versal, like the air we breathe ; and communicative, as our 
country's waters. 

We said that this faith would fire the people of God 
with holy zeal, to extend the covenant blessings to all the 
families of the earth. The Christian who rejoices in the 
experience of the promise, in his own household, will gaze 
with pain on the spiritual desolation which reigns in the 
house of the wicked. The motives drawn from this gra- 
cious constitution of mercy are calculated to raise all the 
sensibility of the soul. They will present before him the 
unevangelized portions of mankind, with all their compli- 
cated woes, weighed down under the pressure of hereditary 
and debasing superstition. The burden of falsehood and 
shame is going down with unbroken force upon successive 
generations. Like the wheels of Juggernaut, it crushes 
where it rolls. He reads in the precious book, that the 
ample provisions of grace are designed for them as well as 
him. Will he not feel his whole soul stirred within him to 
carry these provisions to them, to tell them of their value, 
to urge them upon their acceptance ; beseeching them, with 
strong crying and tears, not to receive the grace of God in 
vain. This subject has not yet been brought to bear on 
the cause of the world's conversion, as it will be. Some 
few noble spirits, however, have been prompted by its ele- 
vating impulse. Having experienced the power of the 
covenant in their own souls, they have gone forth among 
the heathen, impelled, by its motives, cheered by its pro- 
mises, and governed by its principles. 

O'er pagan realms, long seal'd in fearful sleep, 
O why did Mills and toil-worn Martin weep ? 



ADDRESS TO PARENTS. 



185 



They heard and felt, as we should feel, the cry 
Of hopeless millions, as it rose on high : 
Heard the pale infant's faint, expiring scream ; 
Saw the wild mother in her frenzied dream 
Of coming joy, self-martyr'd, clasp the stake, 
Hug the cold corpse, and perish for his sake ! 
For them these youths life's deepest sorrows bore, 
And long'd, in death, to make one struggle more : 
For them this last warm, dying prayer they gave, 
" O God, redeem ! O God, look down and save !" 

O, could the Churches of Jesus Christ once be tho- 
roughly roused to comprehend the bearings of this faith on 
the world's conversion ! could they first consecrate their 
offspring to this great work ! could they realize the over- 
whelming importance of shedding these truths amongst poor 
heathen families ; of breaking away the habits of many 
ages ; of setting a course of generations into the channel 
of the covenant in every pagan land, and in all lands, they 
would then begin to comprehend what is the height, and 
breadth, and length, and depth of that promise, In thee shall 
all the families of the earth he blessed! 



16* 



THE PRAYER OF HABAKKUK, 



OR CONSOLATIONS OF THE COVENANT. 

The attentive student of the third chapter of Habakkuk, 
cannot fail to perceive in its whole train of thought a living 
faith in the Abrahamic covenant. Having just been called to 
utter the most fearful divine denunciations against Israel, and 
oppressed with the certainty of their long Babylonian captivity, 
he seems to have taken up his harp, and, as the ancient wonders 
which a covenant-keeping God had wrought for the Church 
rushed to mind, his soul was borne upward from the deepest de- 
pression to the strongest confidence, and even to adoring rap- 
ture. Believing that it is a precious specimen of the sustain- 
ing power of covenant-faith, amidst severest trials, I have 
thought that a paraphrase, which should somewhat elucidate its 
obscurer phrases, might be at once animating and instructive 
to every believer in the covenant. The reader will find it profit- 
able to spread the prophecy before him, and compare its indivi- 
dual verses, with those of the paraphrase, according to their 
respective numbers. 

1. 

A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, upon Shigionoth. 
2. 

O Lord, I heard, and as thy speech distill'd, 
My listening soul with thoughts of terror thrill'd ; 
Though Israel's harp, unhonor'd and unstrung, 
Shall long o'er Babel's willow'd streams be hung, 
Yet, when thy wrath our tribes shall captive lead, 
'Mid those dark years let mercy intercede ; 
Make known thy power, that thy flock may thrive ; 
Amidst those years, O Lord, thy work revive ! 



PRAYER OF HABAKKUK. 



187 



3. 

From Paran's wilds, and Edom's rocky shore, 
Where the proud surges of the Red Sea roar, 
Where Sinai, based on Teman's granite breast, 
Rears to the sky his thunder-blasted crest, 
Where Horeb towers untrod by mortal man, 
The holy God his glorious march began ; 
On Sinai's brow he fix'd his burning throne : 
Earth teem'd with praise, and heaven with glory shone ! 

4, 5. 

What robes of splendor o'er that scene were cast, 
The lightning's flash, the trump's tremendous blast, 
The trembling tribes that heard the voice of God, 
The quaking mount, for there Jehovah trod, 
And there his fiery law engraved on stone, 
Treasured the might of Israel's holy One. 
There was the ark of God to Jacob given, 
There round their camp was shed the light of heaven, 
Then quail'd each foe, death struck before his ire, 
Whose van was pestilence, whose rear was fire ! 

6. 

He stood ; and measured for that wond'rous host, 
Canaan, thy realms ! against him who can boast ! 
Onward they march'd, that promise-shielded flock, 
While to their deep foundations wildly rock 
Earth's everlasting mountains ! who can stay 
The march of God ! eternal is his way ! 

7. 

When his keen sword o'er wolfish Amalek gleam'd, 
When Heshbon fell, when Bashan's life-blood stream'd, 
I saw surrounding realms and tyrants quail, 
Saw Ethiopia shake ; his tents were frail : 
Midian's light curtains quiver'd as they past, 
And wild Arabia hark'd at every blast ! 

8, 9, 10, 

Nature's free elements, to form their path, 
Became their slaves. Jehovah ! was thy wrath 



188 



PRAYER OF HABAKKUK, 



Against that rifted sea, or Jordan's flood, 
Or Egypt's fertile waters turn'u to blood 1 
And wast thou angry with the rivers 1 No ; 
The time predestined came : thy uncased bow 
Wrought for thy people. 'Twas salvation gave 
Egypt to blood, and Pharaoh to the wave ! 
'Twas for thy word, with oaths unchanging seal'd, 
The floods of earth were cleft ; the mountains reel'd. 
For this the overflowing of the stream pass'd by, 
And the deep lifted up his voice and hands on high. 

11. 

Earth bow'd, but not alone. Heaven knows thy will, 
Through all his orbs : the sun and moon stood still 
In their eternal mansions, or rolled on ; 
Hid their bright beams, or else refulgent shone, 
To fill thy saints with joy, thy foes with fear, 
Like thine own arrows, and thy glittering spear ! 

12, 13, 14, 15. 

Then sail'd thine ark, O God, in Canaan's gore : 
Her tribes the sheaves, her land the threshing floor ! 
Tremendous " march" beneath thine angry tread : 
Those realms of crime, like groaning Egypt, bled 
When from her iron grasp thy son was saved, 
When thine own rod, by hands anointed waved, 
Its withering curse o'er cot and palace flung ; 
Till the death-wail of every household rung, 
Till the long shriek of agony had burst 
Through all his villages : then when the accursed, 
Steel-hearted monarch, like a whirlwind, rush'd 
Fierce on thy feeble saints, his power was crush'd, 
Thou ledst thy horses through the dark Red Sea, 
That monarch perish'd, and thy flock was free ! 

16. 

When first, O God, thy fearful warning came 
Of Israel's lohg captivity and shame, 
Terror ran through my frame ; my faltering lip 
Quiver'd to tell how holy blood must drip 
From all Judea's altars — every bone 
Drank the cantation, till with deepest groan 



PRAYER OF KABAKKUK. 



189 



My trembling-, fainting soul essay'd to pray 

For strength and rest in that avenging day, 

When proud Chaldea shall thy flock invade, 

And all his cruel troops through Zion's blood shall wade, 

17, 18, 19. 

But thou art God ! thy hand will still restrain ; 
Those ancient wonders were not wrought in vain ; 
Strong is thy covenant ! though thy judgments come, 
Firm are my hopes, and all my murmurings dumb. 
Although the fig-tree shall no blossom wear, 
And green, luxuriant vines no fruit shall bear ; 
Though each bright olive grove in mockery shine, 
Though every field in withering want shall pine, 
Though all our flocks shall perish from the fold, 
And not a stall its wonted herd shall hold, 
Still shall Jehovah's praise my tongue employ, 
And God, my Saviour, fill my soul with joy. 
Jehovah ! covenant God ! my strength, my rock, 
'Mid dangerous paths my soul shall safely walk : 
Climb, like the hind, still guarded by thy rod, 
And shout exulting on the hills of God ! 



190 



THE ALTAR OF CONSECRATION* 



THE ALTAR OF CONSECRATION. 

God of salvation, we rear thee this altar ! 

Awake ! and upon it thy glory record ; 
Here may the faith of thy saints never falter 

While they their dear children devote to the Lord. 

Joy to the parent ! thy Saviour will shield thee, 
And cause thee to rest with thy lambs in his fold ; 

Here shall the Spirit that wash'd thee and seal'd thee* 
His seal on thy loved ones in mercy behold. 

Altar of Jesus, what thousands surround thee, 
What ages of glory upon thee shall rest ; 

True to thy trust have the saints ever found thee ; 
The home that hath own'd thee hath ever been blest, 

Firm as of old, thou shalt not be demolish'd 
Till nature's great temple retains not a stone ; 

Till, built of the stones which his Spirit hath polish'd, 
God's temple shall shine 'midst the blaze of his throne 



THE CONSECRATION. 



THE CONSECRATION. 

God of the cross, this heart is thine ! 
Thou knowest that closet's secret shrine J 
Where, when no eye but thine could see, 
I wept and gave it all to thee. 
Sweet hour of mercy ! sacred spot ! 
And shall that closet be forgot 1 
Its pardoning smile, its secret shrine 1 
Never while beats this heart of mine* 

God of the cross, this life is thine ! 
Thou knowest that temple's glorious shrine, 
Where, e'en while men and angels bow'd, 
Thy suppliant child sincerely vow'd, 
And shall that altar be forgot 1 
Never, in deed, or word, or thought ; 
But oft before that glorious shrine 
Renew'd shall be that vow of mine. 

Blest was the hour, and sWeet the vow, 
Serenely on this throbbing brow 
Fell the pure water-emblem true, 
Of Saviour's blood and Spirit's dew — 
Pledge that through all this dangerous race 
Mine, mine shall be thy conquering grace — • 
Pledge that through sin and passion's strife, 
Thine, thine shall be my heart and life. 



192 



TO A CONSECRATED YOUTH. 



TO A CONSECRATED YOUTH. 

Though pleasure's soft whisper fall sweet on thine ear, 
And young fancy's bliss-lighted visions appear, 
Though thou hearest the music which youth loves to hear, 

O give not thy heart. 

Though wealth should allure thee to kneel at his shrine, 
With gifts of the ocean and gifts of the mine, 
Though round thee his splendors should brilliantly shine, 

O give not thy heart. 

Though glory hath spread his pavilion on high, 
And his rainbow-gilt temples e'en dazzle thine eye, 
Though thou deemest his breast never rent with a sigh, 

O give not thy heart, 

But when the kind voice of Emanuel pleads, 

From the throne where he reigns, or the cross where he bleeds, 

Haste thee and list ! 'tis thy God intercedes : 

O give him thy heart, 



CATALOGUE 

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4 



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that in many instances where the connection is close, and the text 
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Princeton, N. J. A. ALEXANDER. 

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My Dear Sir — Every thing which facilitates the intelligent 
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HENRY'S COMMENTARY, in 3 vols, and 6. 
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6 



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ABBOTT'S MOTHER AT HOME. 
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And when he was come near, he beheld the city 
and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known, 
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valuable books. 



1 



and there is scarcely a writer in the whole compass of theological 
literature, in whom a greater number of new and uncommon, but 
useful thoughts are to be found." — Bogue. 

From the Albany Evening Journal May 1st, 1835. 
What of John Howe? say Messrs. Boyne and Bennett in their 
history of Dissenters. " A young man who wishes to attain emi- 
nence in his profession, if he has not the works of John Howe, 
and can procure them in no other way, he should sell his coat 
and buy them ; and if that will not suffice, let him sell his bed 
too and lie on the floor ; and if he spend his days in reading them, 
he will not complain that he lies hard at night." 

MOTHER'S HYMN BOOK, Compiled from various 
authors, for the use of Maternal Associations and 
family worship. By Thomas Hastings. 

PREFACE. 

The great want of Hyms of a devotional character, suitable 
to be sung at the meetings of Maternal Associations, first suggested 
the idea of the present publication. The plan of it was after- 
wards so enlarged, as to embrace a variety of Hymns for social 
and private use. A few of them, written by different hands, are 
now, for the first time, given to the public. The Hymns are ar- 
ranged under distinct heads, for the greater convenience of selec- 
tion ; and a few very plain tunes are referred to, as general speci- 
mens of adaptation. 

The reader will be pleased to learn, that among the contributors 
to the work, are Rev. Dr. Reed of London, late a delegate to the 
American Churches, and Mrs. Brown of Massachusetts, whose 
valued contributions to several popular periodicals will insure her 
a favorable reception. 

THE STUDENT'S MANUAL ; designed hy speci- 
fic directions to aid in forming and strengthening 
the intellectual and moral character and habits of 
the Student — by Rev. John Todd. 12mo. cloth. 

A complete guide to the Student in all the stages of his educa- 
tion, from the time that he commences study to old age. 

MOTHER'S NURSERY SONGS, designed to aid 
Mothers in teaching young children to sing. By 
Thomas Hastings. 

The following notice is from the editor of the Vermont Chronicle. 
This delightful little work has been, for a few months, before 
the public, and promises fair to become a favorite in the nursery. 
It makes a duodecimo of 72 pages, containing on each page a tune, 
and a hymn corresponding to it, adapted to the various capacities 
of infancy and childhood, °and calculated to awaken the amiable 
and kind affections. The work is divided into four parts, and the 
tunes and hymns are arranged accordingly. Part 1st, The Cradle; 



8 



VALUABLE BOOKS. 



2d, The Nursery; 3d, The Class Room; 4th, The Altar. The 
work is chiefly original; (entirely so, we believe, with the ex- 
ception of a few extracts from that sweet songstress, Jane Taylor;) 
and has contributions from the Rev. James Alexander, of Prince- 
ton College, Mrs. Sigourney, of Hartford, Conn., and Mrs. Brown, 
of Monson, Mass. The Editor's own compositions make up the 
remainder, and we have been delighted to see the simplicity with 
which he and his contributors have laid hold upon the ideas of child- 
hood, and the beauty and freshness with which they have clothed 
them. 

It was said of Dr. Watts, by Cecil, that he was astonished at 
nothing of Dr. W.'s productions, but his songs for children; and 
truly we may be astonished at so rare a gift. The talent of ad- 
dressing children, so as at the same time to^ interest and edify 
them ; to enliven their feelings, and elevate their intellect; is one 
of the rarest talents possessed by man; but it is a talent, ihe ele- 
ments of which are in every mind, and which may be cultivated 
to almost any extent by any individual. The reason why it is so 
rarely found is, that it is not properly cultivated, and most per- 
sons consider it beneath their notice to make any serious attempt 
at juvenile or childlike simplicity. 

It it a characteristic of the work before us, that its style is sim- 
ple, without beinglow, and that it contains instruction, brightened 
by the pleasures of poetic beauty. Both the music and the Hymns 
are finely adapted to the capacities for which they are intended, 
and, like all other compositions which are designed for children, 
(when executed well) they fail not equally to interest those of 
maturer years. 

In the introduction, the author has given his views in regard 
to the teaching of children in music, and the mode in which the 
rudiments should be communicated to them while in the nursery. 
He discards the old notion, that music is a special gift of nature, 
maintaining, with all other practical musicians, that it is a univer- 
sal gift; that the elements of music are found in every individual 
and only require cultivation to be developed. The deaf and dumb 
excepted, all, in the view of our author, may learn to sing, and the 
difference of natural talent in relation to music, is probably not 
greater than in reference to other departments of education. Na- 
ture furnishes us with organs, and powers of perception ; cultiva- 
tion must do the rest. 

STEWART'S VISIT TO THE SOUTH-SEAS 

BALINGTON ON EDUCATION. 

JOHN HALL (of Ellington.) ON THE EDUCA- 
TION OF CHILDREN, while under the 
care of Parents and Guardians. 

S. R. HALL ON THE RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 
OF CHILDREN. 

FENELON ON THE EDUCATION OF DAUGH- 
TERS. 



VALUABLE BOOKS. 



0 



THE FATHER'S BOOK ; or Suggestions for the 
government and instruction of young children, on 
principles appropriate to a Christian country. By 
Theo. Dwight,jr. 

il The title of this work sufficiently explains its design. It is a 
plain, practical, familiar development of sound principles, carrying 
them out into detail; and though adapted to fathers, it will perhaps 
be nearly equally useful to both parents. Entertaining the views 
we do of the parental relation, we cannot but hope that this work 
may have a wide circulation." — Abbott's Religious Magazine. 

" We have perused this volume with care, and consider it a 
work of merit, equally adapted to the use of both parents. The 
elements of education, of which it treats, are made perspicuous 
by practical and familiar illustration, evidently the result of the au- 
thor's own experience and observation.'' — Mother's Magazine. 

" The book possesses one quality of peculiar value in a work on 
education; it gives us a simple, unpretending series of maxims 
and examples, the results of a judicious father's experience and 
observation, and careful study of the habits and feelings of child- 
hood, in his own family, and among successive classes in schools, 
which his love of infancy led him to instruct. On this ground, 
we think it claims the attention of every young parent, and we be- 
lieve it will secure his conficence and interest his feelings. The 
introductory remarks on the general principles of education are 
sound and important. We can cordially recommend it as one of the 
* First Books' of the parent's library." — Annals of Education. 

INFLUENCE OF MOTHERS. 

THE PASTOR'S DAUGHTER. 

DAILY DUTIES, by Mrs. Adams. 

MEMOIRS OF HARLAN PAGE. 

BIOGRAPHIES OF DR. PAYSON, MRS. HUNT- 
INGTON, BURDER, HALYBURTON, 1. B. 
TAYLOR, &c. 

MEMOIR OF MRS. MIRON WINSLOW, late Mis- 
sionary to India. By her husband, Rev. Miron 
Winslow. In a neat 1.2mo. With a portrait. 

WILBERFORCE'S PRACTICAL VIEW OF 
CHRISTIANITY, with an Introductory Essay, 
by Rev. Daniel Wilson, D. D. 18mo. new edi- 
tion, with a steel Portrait. 

DR. PAYSON'S SELECT THOUGHTS. 32mo. 

CRUDENS CONCORDANCE. 

FIRE SIDE PIETY. 

THE MOTHER'S FRIEND, 



10 



VALUABLE BOORS. 



CHINA AND THE ENGLISH. 

REAL DIALOGUES ON THE EVIDENCES OF 

CHRISTIANITY. 
WAY FOR A CHILD TO BE SAVED. 
EVERY DAY DUTY. 

CHILD'S BOOK on the Sabbath. By Rev. H. 
Hooker. Giving in an intelligent but interesting 
style an account of the institution of the Sabbath, 
its change, desijrn, means of observance, &c. &c. 

BIBLE STORIES for children. By Rev. T. HL 
Gallaudet. 

MORNING EXERCISES for the Closet, for every 
day in the year. By Wm. Jay. Stereotype edition. 

The superior excellence of this work is universally admitted. 
Many thousand copies have already been circulated. 

CHURCH PSALMODY, a collection of Psalms and 
Hymns, adapted to Public Worship, 12mo. 18mo. 
and 32mo. 

MANUAL OF CHRISTIAN PSALMODY, adapted 
to the use of Baptist Churches, 12, 18, and 32mos. 

UNION HYMNS, adapted to social meetings and 
family worship. 

DAILY FOOD FOR CHRISTIANS, with plates. 

NATIONAL CHURCH HARMONY, by N. D. 
Gould. 

JUVENILE HARMONY, for Sabbath Schools, by 

N. D. Gould. 
MUSICAL MANUAL, for Sabbath Schools, by Ch. 

jZexinev . 

PSALMS AND HYMNS, used by the various 
Churches. 

MUSICA SACRA, or Utica and Springfield Collec- 
tion of Sacred Music United. By Thomas Has- 
tings and Solomon JVarrlner. 

SPLRITUAL SONGS. By Thomas Hastings. 

DYER'S SELECTION of Sacred Music. 

" ANTHEMS, Set Pieces, Odes, and Choruses. 

HANDEL AND HAYDEN SOCIETY'S COL- 
LECTION. Edited by Lowell Mason. 



VALUABLE BOOKS. 



11 



CHURCH HARMONY, by N. D. Gould. 
BOSTON ACADEMY'S Collection of Psalm 

and Hymn Tunes. 
KINGLEY'S SOCIAL CHOIR. 
BAXTER'S SAINTS 1 REST, on fine paper— the 

best edition for the price in market. 
THE SHORTER CATECHISM, composed by the 

Assembly of Divines at Westminster. 32pp. 
BROWN'S (Rev. John) Short Catechism, for' 

Youn£ Children. 32pp. 32mo. printed covers. 

Of each of these Catechisms a beautiful stereotype edition is 
published, and will be sold low to Churches, Schools and individu- 
als purchasing in quantity. 

SABBATH SCHOOL BOOKS, 

In great variety, embracing the Publications of the Massachusetts 
Sabbath ] School Society — The American S. S. Union — The Lon- 
don Religious Tract Society, and of the many Publishers in vari- 
ous cities and towns of the United Slates, at their respective prices. 

LONDON BOOKS. 

BRITISH REFORMERS, 8 vols. 

Latimer; Cranmer; Rogers; Bradford; Saunders; 
Taylor ; Careless ; Tindal ; Frith ; Barnes ; Rid- 
ley ; Philpot ; Becon ; Knox ; Hooper. 

OWEN ON THE 130th PSALM. 

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS of the Jews. 18mo. 

NEALE'S EMBLEMS for the youno;, 18mo. 

DAILY SCRIPTURE INSTRUCTOR. 

" EXPOSITOR. 

MARY ANNE, by Mrs. Sherwood. 

THE RED BOOK, " 

COMPANION TO THE BIBLE. 

SHORT STORIES for Good Children. 

DEW DROPS. 

DAILY FOOD. 

LIGHT. 

GEMS OF SACRED POETRY. 

NATURAL HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS 

with plates. 



12 



VALUABLE BOOKS. 



TEMPERANCE PUBLICATIONS. 
KITTREDGE'S Address. 
HUMPHREY'S Parallel. 
BE MAN'S Address. 
STUART'S Prize Essay. 
HOSACK'S Address. 

EIGHTH ANNUAL REPORT of the American 

Temperance Society. 
TEMPERANCE Tales. 
No. 1. My Mother's Gold Ring. 

" 2. Wild Dick and Good Little Robin. 

M 3. I Am Afraid there is a God. 

" 4. A Sectarian Thing. 

" 5. Groggy Harbour. 

" 6. Right Opposite. 

" 7. Fritz Harell. 

" 8. What a Curse, or Johnny Hodges the Black- 
smith. 

" 9. A Word in season, or the Sailor's Widows 
DR. BEECHER'S Six Sermons on Intemperance. 

E. C. will furnish to order on the best terms, 
any work in market, but will devote particular at- 
tention to the publication and sale of Books calculated 
to promote Evangelical Religion. The department of 

SABBATH SCHOOL BOOKS 
has been considerably enlarged, and he is now enga- 
ged in publishing several choice works for 
INFANT, PRIMARY AND SABBATH SCHOOLS, 
Among which are Mrs. Howland's in valuable Infant 
School Manual, and other works by the same au- 
thor ; also Lessons for Infant Sabbath Schools : 
with a plan for conducting a class, by Henry J. 
Howland. He will also keep an assortment of ap- 
proved SCHOOL BOOKS for sale at wholesale or 
retail very low. 

* # * Persons at a distance sending their orders, 
will in all cases be dealt with as favorably as if 
personally present. 



SCHOOL, BOOKS 



FOR 



COUNTRY TRADE 



AND 



AT RETAIL: 



FOR SALE, AMONG MANY OTEHRS AT VERY LOW 
PRICES FOR CASH, 



BV 

EZRA COLLIER, 

(Successor to John P. Haven,) 
AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY HOUSE, 143 NASSAU-STREET. 



NEW -YORK : 
WEST & TROW, PRINTERS. 
1835. 



ADVERTISER'S NOTICE. 



The subscriber offers for sale the Books enumerated in the follow- 
ing Catalogue, believing that those especially to which he has added 
recommendations are worthy of particular attention. They have been 
prepared from a knowledge of the necessities of the community and 
are intended while they shall facilitate the acquisition of the useful 
sciences to be entirely unobjectionable in their moral influence. In 
such a catalogue as the following, many highly useful School Books 
are necessarily^omitted, with which the subscriber will be constantly 
supplied, and he will also furnish to order any others in market as low 
as they can be obtained. 

EZRA COLLIER. 



CATALOGUE. 



THE EASY PRIMER ; containing Children's First 
Lessons in Reading and Spelling. 18mo. pp. 70. 

" After testing it in my family and the preparatory school con- 
nected with my seminary, I am free to say, I hardly know how a 
better book for young children can be made. 

"S. R. HALL." 
" For beginners in reading, these Lessons must be excellent.' 
— Juvenile Rambler. 

" This is a book which those for whom it is designed can under- 
stand. It is also eminently calculated, while it awakens interest, 
and improves the mind, to warm the pupil into benevolent senti- 
ments." — [An Instructor. 

THE CHILD'S GUIDE. Designed to aid in correct 
Reading, Spelling, Defining, Thinking and Acting-. 
— 18mo. pp. 178. 

RECOMMENDATIONS. 
From the Rev. S. R. Hall, author of Lectures on School-Keeping , 
and Principal, of the Seminary for Teachers at Andover. 

" Our Teachers' Association were unanimous in awarding to the 
Child's Guide the preference over any single reading book in use 
for children. I have seen none that I think is equally valuable. 
My opinion of its value has increased with its use." 

" Andover, Oct. 11, 1833. 

" Several copies* of the work entitled the ' Child's Guide,' ha- 
ving been received by the members of the 'Teachers' Association,' 
they take this opportunity to inform you, after a critical examina- 
tion, that they higly approve of the selection and arrangement of 
its matter, and believe it to be better adapted to the wants of the 
young, and better calculated to advance them in the art of reading, 
than any other work they have heretofore seen. — H. O. Randall, 
H. H. Griffen, J. C. Hoyt, Committee." 

" I can express the entire concurrence of my views with those 
of the ' Teachers' Association,' which are certainly very conclu- 
sive." — A Philadelphia Teacher. 

From the Boston Recorder, Nov. 27, 1833. 
" We know of few school books more interesting, or more im- 



4 



SCHOOL BOOKS. 



proving to the younger classes of our schools, than the Child's 
Guide. One evidence of its merit is the fact, that since 1830 it has 
gone through six editions. As to its moral tendency, we know 
of no human work for classes in reading which we think surpasses 
it. This opinion is given as the result of many years' experience 
among pupils, and schools, and school books." — A Correspondent. 

From the Juvenile Rambler, Nov. 1833. 

" We doubt whether there is a better reading book for very 
young classes to be found. It is highly interesting in itself, and is 
rendered more attractive by engravings. Besides, its moral ten- 
dency is peculiarly happy." 

" This is unquestionably one of the best books extant for the 
young classes in common schools." — Christian Watchman. 

11 The title of this work points out the object which we think 
should be kept in view in forming reading books for children ; and 
we have seldom seen books so well adapted to them. It describes 
subjects which children can comprehend, in language which they 
can understand, — and can scarcely fail to interest and instruct, and 
what is more important, to exert a happy moral influence." — An- 
nals of Education and Instruction. 

" This is one of those little works of which we might speak 
highly with a clear conscience : for it seems admirably adapted to 
fill an existing space in the regular line of infant reading books. — 
It is judiciously made up of concise, simple, and attractive lessons, 
suited to .the comprehension and tastes of children between the 
ages of six, and nine or ten. The subjects are well chosen ; and 
from the eagerness and manifest gratification evinced by our own 
children in the perusal of the copy now before us, we infer that 
those subjects are such as peculiarly interest young minds, not yet 
initiated in the deeper lore of more abstruse matter. The contents 
appear to have been selected, with much care, from the most pop- 
ular modern publications designed for juvenile readers." — U. S. 
Literary Advertiser. 

" This little book is compiled on the inductive principle, which 
we apprehend is the only true philosophy to be consulted in pre- 
paring books for beginners. The preface contains some important 
practical suggestions to teachers, and we should judge the book 
worthy of a fair trial in the primary schools. 1 '— Education Reporter. 

THE INTELLIGENT READER, — Designed as a 
Sequel to the Child's Guide. 12mo. 

From Hon. Wm. B. Calhoun, M. C.and late Speaker of the House 
of Representatives of Massachusetts. 

" I have examined the 4 Intelligent Reader,' with much satis- 
faction. It is compiled upon an obvious and essential principle — 
that no pupil can become an accomplished reader, until he has 
acquired a complete understanding of the subject of his lesson." 

Oct. 24, 1834. 

From Rev. C. S. Henry, Hartford, Con. 
({ I think so highly of your books, [Intelligent Reader, Child's 



SCHOOL BOOKS. 



5 



Guide, &c] that I think it my duty, as Chairman of the Commit- 
tee of our School Society, to endeavor to have them introduced 
into our schools this winter; and I heartily thank you for giving 
me the opportunity of examining them." 

" We have examined the Reading Book lately published by 
you, entitled 'The Intelligent Reader,' and are satisfied that it is 
well adapted to the purposes for which it was prepared. The Se- 
lections, besides being of an interesting character, are marked by 
a pleasing variety, a correctness and purity of thought, a simplicity 
of language and style, which peculiarly fit them for gratifying and 
improving youthful minds. We are particularly pleased with it as 
a reading book for schools. The Lessons are of suitable length, and 
conveniently subdivided into nearly equal paragraphs ; and the 
definitions and questions connected with the Lessons, will be found 
very useful as guides and helps to the scholar and teacher. 

" We cordially recommend this book to teachers and all others 
who have the charge of the education of youth, as especially cal 
culated to make intelligent as well as good readers. 

JoSIAH HOOKER^ T()wn Sch00 j 

Jjenj. Putnam, > n ... 
"Springfield, Oct. I, \334." Geo. Colton, S Committee ' 
From Alfred D. Foster, Esq., Chtirman of the Committee on 
Education, at the last session of the Massachusetts Legislature. 
" I have examined with considerable attention the Easy Prim- 
er, Child's Guide, and Intelligent Reader, and think them admi- 
rably adapted for the purposes for which they are severally design- 
ed. The Lessons are judiciously arranged for the progressive im- 
provement of the scholar, while the definitions and questions may 
give important aid in the use of books. The moral influence of all 
the pieces is good, and not liable to the objection of sectarianism 
from any quarter." Nov. 22, 1834. 

From Poulson's (Philadelphia) Daily Advertiser, Oct. 21, 1834. 

" It is one of the most unexceptionable and judicious selections 
of reading matter for American children and youth that I have 
ever seen. It is embellished with fine wood cuts, and its typograph- 
ical appearance is very attractive. As a reading book in schools or 
families, it is fearlessly recommended. A PARENT." 

From Rev. E. Davis, Principal of Westfield Academy. 

"The ' Intelligent Reader' is precisely the kind of book needed 
in common schools. Scholars are not generally taught in the 
common schools to understand what they read ; they do not attend 
sufficiently to definitions, nor are they called upon to give an ac- 
count of what they have read. Your book, if teachers will do their 
duty, will meet both difficulties. Scholars must be questioned on 
what they read. I find an ignorance of an author's meaning the 
great hinderance to improvement among youth that come up from 
the common school to the Academy. They misinterpret the au- 
thor or get no meaning." 

" This book has many excellencies. Its arrangement to those 
acquainted with the Child's Guide, will speak for itself. It may 
indeed be questioned, whether there is a series of reading books in 

# 



6 



SCHOOL BOOKS. 



circulation, on the whole so well adapted to the wants of Christian 
parents and teachers in common schools, as the ' Child's Guide.' 
and the ' Intelligent Reader.' " — [ 4< w3 Teacher," in the Christian 
Watchman ] 

" I shall most cheerfully recommend the book to our schools." 

Rev. A. ELY. 

" I rejoice to hear that the ' Intelligent Reader' is finding favor 
among the parents, and teachers, and children of New-England; 
for, having recently given it an examination, I think it worthy of 
being used as the Sequel of the Child's Guide, a work which has 
met with so much success, and been so extensively useful. May 
the time soon arrive when the lessons of the Intelligent Reader 
will entertain and enlighten the minds, and elevate and improve 
the hearts of the older classes in all our district schools — These 
remarks are made from a conviction that the work has the same- 
tone and tendency with your former compilations, some of which 
I have used in my school. Should I re-commence my labors as an 
instructor, I shall not hesitate to use your series of books in prefe- 
rence to any other — taken as a whole — which has fallen under my 
observation. AN OLD TEACHER. 

"Boston, Dec, 1834." 

From the Boston Recorder, Oct. 3, 1834. 
li A commendable peculiarity of (his book is, the definition of 
the difficult words in each lesson, and its various devices to secure 
a faithful use of them. A gentleman of good repute, as a judge 
in such matters, has handed us the following : 

'Mr. Editor, — Permit me to call the attention of parents and 
teachers, through the medium of your paper, to a new reading 
book for common schools. Not to puff the work merely, for I trust 
that the day has arrived when parents and teachers are not to be 
put off in this way. All I hope, and all I could wish, if I were even 
a particular friend of the publishers or author, would be to induce 
Christian parents, and teachers, and committees, to examine the 
work, and compare it diligently with some which have appeared 
during a few years past ; and if they do not discover a marked dif- 
ference in favor of the Intelligent Reader, in more respects 
than one, I have no more to say.' " 

MURRAY'S SYSTEM OF ENGLISH GRAMMAR 
— Improved and adapted to the present mode of 
Instruction in this branch of Science. Larger Ar- 
rangement—By Enoch Pond, D. D., Professor of 
Theology, in the Bangor Seminary. Seventh Edi- 
tion. 

RECOMMENDATIONS. 

Extract from a notice written by one of the Editors of the Mass. Yeo- 
man ; he being also one of the School Committee of Worcester. 
" Pond's Murray's Grammar. — We are happy to recommend 

to such of our readers as may wish to learn English Grammar, the 



SCHOOL BOOKS. 



7 



work above mentioned. We are glad to see a new edition of Lind- 
ley Murray,' so modernized that it may suit the most fastidious 
taste, and yet retain enough of its old characteristics to be recogni- 
zed by its old friends. The edition before us has evidently been 
prepared with care, and the improvements which the original work 
has received from the hands of Mr. Pond, must, we think, ensure 
its favorable reception in our schools." 

From the Old Colony Memorial, Plymouth, Jan. 3, 1835. 
" The high estimation in which the principles of Mr. Murray, 
perhaps the greatest of all English grammarians, are held by the 
most accurate teachers of the philosophy of our language, is a sure 
pledge for the merits and success of a work, professing rather to 
illustrate those principles, and give them a more philosophical ar- 
rangement, than by pretending to supplant them by any more re- 
cent innovations. The great popularity which the first and smaller 
edition of this work has attained among the learned and critical 
teachers of New-England ; the good taste, sound learning, and ac- 
curate judgment of Professor Pond, together with the just celebrity 
of the great author whom he has abridged, ensure it a welcome 
introduction into all schools that are not already inundated with 
the spurious trash of modern sciolists. We consider ' Pond's Mur- 
ray's Grammar' next in utility to the expert and thorough teacher, 
who, to his pupils, should be himself a living grammar." 

From the New-York Weekly Messenger, May, 1835. 

"These books have been before the public some time, and are 
used in many of the public and private schools of New-England ; 
and we have no doubt, that were their merits sufficiently under- 
stood, the demand would be greatly increased. We commend the 
books very cheerfully to the attention of trustees and teachers in 
New- York." 

From Rev. D. D. Pratt, Nashua Village, N. H. 
" After a patient examination, and some experience in giving 
instruction, 1 feel that the work .... greatly excels any in use 
among us. Were I to call it the best in our country, 1 should ex- 
press the opinion of many who are considered competent judges, 
which opinion differs in no material respect from my own. It must 
be obvious to the attentive observer, that the brevity of the text, 
the thorough reviews, appropriate questions, and lucid notes, are 
traits of excellence rarely combined in a single book. 

POND'S MURRAY'S GRAMMAR —Abridged for 
the use of the Younger Scholars — made very easy. 

THE GRAMMATICAL ASSISTANT: Contain- 
ing Definitions in Etymology, Rules of Syntax, 
and Selections for Parsing. 2d ed. revised and en- 
larged. By & R. Hall, author of "Lectures on 
School-Keeping," "Lectures on Christian Educa- 
tion," &c. and L'rin. of the Sem. for Teachers, An- 
dover. 



8 



SCHOOL BOOKS. 



" I have attentively examined Mr. Hall's Grammatical Assist- 
ant. I consider it a very valuable production. His definitions are 
correct, and his illustrations are clear and perspicuous. I most 
cordially recommend the work to the attention of School Commit- 
tees and Instructors, believing that they will find it well adapted to 
the purposes for which it was intended." — [Benjamin Greenleaf, 
Principal Bradford Academy. 

11 A critical examination of the Rev. S. R. Hall's Grammatical 
Assistant, has induced me to believe, that, in the arrangement of 
its practical exercises, and in many other respects, it possesses 
marked superiorities over other Grammars of the English lan- 
guage. I sincerely wish its merits were more generally known." 
— [A. R. Baker, late Principal Dorchester High School. 

" It answers well its purpose, and I think will be used with ad- 
vantage in schools. In the first and second Parts the principles of 
the science of Grammar are clearly given, and in Part Third the 
pieces are well selected, both for Reading and Parsing." — [L. 
Sabin, Principal of HopUins Academy, 

11 Having examined Mr. Hall's Grammatical Assistant, I take 
pleasure in recommending it to the public. The author makes no 
pretensions which will not be fully realized by those who shall in- 
troduce this book into use. I consider the advantages arising from 
such selections of Exercises for Parsing, decidedly superior to the 
use of any particular author." — [J. N. Stoddard, Principal of Ply- 
mouth High School. 

THE FRANKLIN INTELLECTUAL ARITH- 
METIC : for the use of Schools. By E. Davis, 
A. M., Principal of West field Academy. 

" We took up this small book with no prepossessions at all in 
its favor, supposing that Colburn had nearly reached the ne plus of 
book-making in this department, and having felt vexed at former 
attempts of some Arithmeticians to appropriate the results of his 
labors to their honor and profit; but in this instance, the examina- 
tion has restored our temper, and we lay it down well pleased. In 
one respect this work is in advance from Colburn : the pupil, with- 
out retarding his progress in the science of numbers, is simultane- 
ously taught many other things. The result of almost every ope- 
ration is the knowledge of some fact in Geography, Botany, Chro- 
nology, Biography, Natural, Civil, or Sacred History, or some oth- 
er science. — In a word, it is a book, which we can cheerfully, in- 
telligently, and conscientiously recommend." — Christian Mirror. 

" We cordially recommend it as peculiarly adapted to the lower 
classes in common schools." — Springfield Toicn School Committee. 

" It is better adapted to the capacities, and to gain the attention 
of children, than any thing of the kind which I have yet seen. — 
One excellence among others which it has, is, that it combines in- 
teresting information of men and things with the acquisition of the 
knowledge of figures. I shall recommend it to the younger classes 
in the schools in this place." — [Rev. A. Ely Monson. 

THE INFANT SCHOOL MANUAL, or Teach- 



SCHOOL BOOKS. 



9 



er's Assistant ; containing a view of the System 
of Infant Schools, also, a variety of useful Lessons. 
For the use of Teachers. By Mrs. Howland. — 
Seventh Edition, revised, improved, and enlarged. 

RECOMMENDATIONS. 
From Mr. Josiah Hol brook, the inventor of the Infant School 
Apparatus. 

u Messrs. Dorr & Howland, — 1 have been gratified with the 
manuscript you put into my hands for an opinion whether it ought 
to be published. From a cursory examination, I cheerfully state 
it as my opinion, that the author understands the principles, and 
has largely imbibed the spirit of Infant and Primary Education, 
and cannot doubt, but the result of her intelligence, moral senti- 
ment, and industry, if given to the public, would afford an essential 
and timely aid in the advancement of schools. 

" Boston, Feb. 16, 1830." JOSIAH HOLBROOK. 

The following notice has been recently received from Roberts 
Vaux, Esq., a gentleman of high standing and intelligence. 
Extract of a letter to the Publishers. 

" My opinion has been requested respecting ' The Infant 
School Manual,' which T very cheerfully give, because it is a 
work of great merit. The fact that it has passed the sixth edition, 
is the strongest recommendation its author need desire concerning 
its deserved prosperity. ROBERTS VAUX. 

" Philadelphia, 10 mo. 22, 1834." 

From the Rev. Joseph I. Foot. 

" Having read, in manuscript, a work designed to be an assist- 
ant to teachers of Infant Schools, about to be published by you, I 
feel no hesitation in saying, that it contains information which 
will be highly useful not only to teachers of Infant, but also of 
Primary Schools ; and that the Lessons designed to be used in 
the former, are well calculated to excite the attention, engage the 
thoughts, and form a relish for learning. JOS. I. FOOT. 

" Broohfield, July 1830." 

LESSONS FOR INFANT SABBATH SCHOOLS, 
with a Plan for Conducting a Class. " Suffer 
little children to come unto me, and forbid them 
not, for of such is the kingdom of God." Mark 
10 : 14. By Henry J. Howland. Fifth Edition. 

INTRODUCTION. 

We are not aware of the existence of any book containing a 
plan for conducting an Infant Sabbath School, and as we think it 
would be useful to such as wish to adopt the system, and have not 
had the opportunity to become personally acquainted with it, to 
have some " Guide" to direct them in beginning, we have underta- 
ken to prepare one. The plan, with a part of the lessons, has been 
practically tested for several months, and found useful. We are, 
therefore, able to recommend it. The Introductory Lesson, and 
that on the Commandments, are altered and abridged from the 



10 



SCHOOL BOOKS. 



tl Infant School Manual," by permission, and other aid has also 
been received from that valuable work. In the Scripture Lessons, 
we have endeavored to mar the beauty of the sacred text as little 
as possible. The Catechisms in rhyme have been published in Phi- 
ladelphia, but their value entitles them to a greater circulation in 
the northern states ; they are therefore inserted at the request of 
a valued friend. A few of the Hymns were written for this work, 
others have been selected and altered from various sources. We 
now commit the book to the friends of Sabbath Schools, in the hope 
that it may afford some assistance to them in sowing the precious 
seeds of Divine truth in the Infant mind. 

INFANT DIALOGUES ; adapted to the use of In- 
fant and Primary Schools. By the author of In- 
fant School Manual. 

EASY LESSONS FOR INFANT CLASSES IN 
SABBATH SCHOOLS. By the same author. 

ON THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN, while 
under the care of parents and guardians. By John 
Hall, Principal of the Ellington School. 

The Editor of the Mother's Magazine says :- 

" We notice this little work with approbation, because, by a 
perusal of its pages, we are persuaded that it may be highly use- 
ful to parents and guardians, who have the discernment to per- 
ceive, and the magnanimity to acknowledge their errors, and 
have the self-control to leave the 1 beaten path,' in which so many 
parents (we would hope unwittingly) have led on their beloved 
children to ruin and death. * 

" The testimony and advice of Mr. Hall are not to be question- 
ed. His experience as a man of general literature and science, 
and as a successful teacher of youth for more than twenty years, 
has given him superior advantages for such animadversions upon 
perverted education. Would that every experienced teacher of 
youth, in our country, had the same moral courage and would 
exert the same mental energy to expose the prevailing errors of 
parents and guardians. 

"A brief recommendation from Rev. T. H Gallaudet, is prefixed 
to the work. Mr. Gallaudet is another champion, qualified under 
similar circumstances, to lead in the cause of Christian education. 
" We have no need to say, that his several little treatises for chil- 
dren, deserve a place in every family." 

NORTH AMERICAN SPELLING-BOOK. 
ARITHMETICAL TABLES. 
THE YOUNG CHILD'S A, B, C; or FIRST BOOK. 
THE NEW- YORK PRIMER ; or SECOND BOOK. 
THE NEW- YORK PRECEPTOR ; or, THIRD 
BOOK. 



SCHOOL BOOKS. 



11 



THE NEW -YORK SPELLING BOOK ; or, 

FOURTH BOOK. 
THE NEW-YORK EXPOSITOR; or, FIFTH 

BOOK. 

THE NEW- YORK READER, No. 1. 
THE NEW-YORK READER, No. 2. 
THE NEW- YORK READER, No. 3. 
KEITH ON THE GLOBES. 
BROWN'S CATECHISM OF ENGLISH GRAM- 
MAR. 

BROWN'S FIRST LINES OF ENGLISH GRAM- 
MAR. 

BROWN'S INSTITUTES OF ENGLISH GRAM- 
MAR. 

COMSTOCK'S NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. 

Do. ELEMENTS OF CHEMISTRY. 

Do. INTRODUCTION TO BOTANY. 

Do. OUTLINES OF GEOLOGY. 

MURRAY'S GRAMMAR, 18mo. 
MURRAY'S GRAMMAR, Abridged. 
MURRAY'S GRAMMAR AND EXERCISES, in 

1 volume, 12mo. 
AMERICAN POPULAR LESSONS. 
PRIMARY DICTIONARY. 

JAMIESON'S GRAMMAR, OF RHETORIC AND 
POLITE LITERATURE, comprehending the 
principles of language and style, the elements of 
taste and criticism ; with rules for the study of com- 
position and eloquence ; illustrated by appropriate 
examples, selected chiefly from the British Classics ; 
tenth edition, 12mo.; adopted in Yale and other 
Colleges in the United States, as being the best 
work extant. 

JAMEISON'S GRAMMAR OF LOGIC AND IN- 
TELLECTUAL PHILOSOPHY, on Didactic 
Principles ; 12mo. 

BARBER'S ELOCUTIONIST, for the higher class- 
es in schools, academies and colleges ; 1 vol. 12mo. 

BARBER'S GRAMMAR OF ELOCUTION, con- 
taining the principles of the arts of reading and 



12 



SCHOOL BOOKS. 



speaking, illustrated by appropriate exercises and 
examples ; adopted in Yale, Cambridge and other 
Colleges in the United States ; Second Edition, 
12mo. 

EMERSON'S FIRST PART OF THE NORTH 

AMERICAN ARITHMETIC. 
EMERSON'S SECOND PART. 
THE CHILD'S BOOK OF GEOGRAPHY, by £. 

R. Hall, with outlines of countries, cuts, and eight 

copper-plate Maps. 
PORTER'S ANALYSIS. 
NEWMAN'S RHETORIC. 
NEWMAN'S POLITICAL ECONOMY. 
SCHOOL TESTAMENTS. 
SCHOOL BIBLES. 
HIGH SCHOOL READER. 
YOUNG LADIES' CLASS BOOK. 
WTLLETT'S ARITHMETIC. 
BRINSMADE'S GEOGRAPHY for Children. 
PARLEY'S do. do. 

WORCESTER'S PRIMER. 
THE MOTHER'S PRIMER, by Gallaudet. 
PETER PARLEY'S SPELLING BOOK. 
COBB'S do. do. 

WEBSTER'S do. do. 

CHILD'S SECOND READING BOOK. 
PARKHURST'S FIRST LESSONS. 
WALKER'S SCHOOL DICTIONARY. 
WEBSTER'S do. do. 

Do. LARGE do. 
PARKER'S PROGRESSIVE EXERCISES IN 

COMPOSITION. 
MURRAY'S ENGLISH READER. 

Do. INTRODUCTION. 
VALPY'S PALEY. 

BLAISDALE'S INTELLECTUAL PHILOSO- 
PHY. 

COLBURN'S ALGEBRA. 
AMERICAN FIRST CLASS BOOK. 
BLAIR'S LECTURES IN RHETORIC. 



